The Herald Sun
Source: AAP
Australia has its first hydro-electric plant powered by human waste.
The Sydney harbourside plant, which generates energy by dropping treated waste water down a 60m shaft, was switched on yesterday.
The plant at North Head will reduce carbon dioxide emission equivalent to taking 3000 cars off the road, NSW Water Minister Phil Costa said.
The energy it produces will be enough to power 1000 homes, but will primarily be used to power about 40 per cent of the sewage treatment plant. "Sydney Water is on track to deliver its carbon-neutral program and this is part of that process,'' Mr Costa said.
The plant will reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12,000 tonnes a year and is part of a $50 million upgrade to the North Head sewage treatment plant.
But Opposition climate change spokeswoman Catherine Cusack said the plant doesn't go far enough and that emissions continue to "skyrocket''.