Smart Scandinavians: Using sewage to make gasoline

With gas prices at an all-time high, talk of alternative fuels is on the uprise. Last week the International Herald Tribune ran an interesting article on the use of biogas in Sweden. That’s right, the Scandinavian country known for meatballs, ABBA and gorgeous blonds is on the forefront of turning sewage waste into enough fuel to run thousands of buses and cars.

Biogas or bio methane refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter. It’s not only sewage that can be used; the Swedish government also converts confiscated alcohol smuggled at the border into a biogas used to fuel a train in the southeastern part of the country.

Cars that could use biogas began to be marketed on a large scale earlier in the decade. Since then they have become a hit; emissions are pretty much odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and many municipalities in Sweden have provided tax incentives for individuals running their vehicles on biogas. Plus for the eco-friendly minded, turning sewage into fuel seems pretty ideal. “When you’re in the bathroom in the morning and you can see something good come of that, it’s easy to be taken in by the idea - it’s like a utopia,” said Andreas Kask, a business consultant who drives a taxi in Gotheborg.

Two Swedish cities, Gothenburg and Boras, have been at the forefront of using biogas, fueling their fleets of buses, trucks and other city vehicles with the renewable fuel. Unfortunately, the future for biogas is unknown. With an increasing popularity in ethanol and driver complaints of too few filling stations, biogas has some obstacles to overcome. But as Bo Ramberg, chief executive of FordonsGas which operates the largest chain of biogas filling stations in Scandinavia, says, “we already strongly believe that biogas is the best fuel for lower emissions - no discussion about it.”