Up to half of the average North American household’s food ends up getting tossed out, with most of this “waste” ending up in landfills, where it’s tucked into layers of garbage and gobbled up by methanogenic (methane producing) bacteria. Yet, by tossing out last week’s limp lettuce or putrid pasta, we scrap the energy-production potential contained within the food.
A mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, and a small percentage of other gases, biogas is considered clean-burning fuel. A 5-gallon bucket filled with organic matter — food scraps, spent flowers, fats, animal excrement, and green yard waste—can yield enough gas to sustain a cooking flame for about two hours. The system described here accepts one 5-gallon bucket of organic waste a day, which would meet the needs for many households. Your digester will also produce roughly 5 gallons of liquid fertilizer for every 5 gallons of feedstock. If you run the methane through a generator, you could get 45 to 60 minutes of power to
