Biorefinery Turns Waste into Juice, Which Isn’t as Gross as That Sounds

The future of power is only war… for your garbage! This lovely little machine is a “biorefinery” designed to take food, paper, and plastic waste and convert them into electricity. First designed for use by the military, it’s not unpossible that similar devices could be used everywhere in the future. (Imagine how much more inclined people would be to recycle if they were getting electricity directly from their efforts.)

When news of this modern day Mr. Fusion came to light last month, a few people got hung up on this line: “Researchers tested the first tactical biorefinery prototype in November and found that it produced approximately 90 percent more energy than it consumed.” They aren’t breaking on Newtonian law. Instead, they’re saying that the machine plus the waste made more energy than it took to process the waste. It’s not energy from the ether—it’s just efficient enough to make more energy than it uses.

This isn’t the only way to eke power from waste products: Vermont has a program called “Cow Power” that makes energy from manure.

Scientists develop portable generator that turns trash into electricity [Purdue.edu]