biogas

To make its data center greener, Apple will be getting energy from old garbage.

The company plans to power the fuel cells at its Maiden, N.C., data center with biogas from landfills, according to a regulatory filing spotted by Data Center Knowledge.

The filing also indicates that Bloom Energy will supply the 4.8 megawatts worth of fuel cells that will partly power the data center. Yesterday, Bloom Energy CEO K.R. Sridhar told CNET that the company will supply its 200-kilowatt parking space-size Bloom Boxes to Apple.

By using biogas rather than natural gas to power its fuel … Read more

In a new twist on using waste for energy, Microsoft is designing a data center powered by biogas, the gas given off from landfills and other sources.

The company last week further detailed its Data Plant experiment, an idea to bring more reliability to its data centers and lower pollution from them.

Fuel cells would supply power to the data center and make it independent from the grid, said Christian Belady, general manager of Data Center Services in a blog post last week. In theory, having on-site power allows a data center operator to use the electric grid as bac … Read more

An energy project in Austria will use biogas-powered fuel cells at homes and businesses to pump power into the grid.

ClearEdge Power today announced a deal with Austrian energy company Gussing Renewable Energy to supply 50 megawatts worth of fuel cells between now and 2020 for installation in Austria. The deal will be worth $500 million over that time, making it one of the biggest contracts for stationary fuel cells.

In the first phase, ClearEdge Power's large refrigerator-size fuel cells, which each can generate five kilowatts of electric power and heat from gas, will be installed to power groups … Read more

Move your butt over, Prius. Japanese toilet manufacturer Toto has a new take on a green driving machine. The Toilet Bike Neo combines a three-wheel motorcycle with a latrine. The kooky contraption runs on biogas.

Biogas is just a fancy way of saying poo power. In case you were wondering where the source of the stool is supposed to come from, the bike's built-in toilet should answer your question. It doesn't leave much to the imagination. Could we get a privacy screen, please?

According to coverage by Spoon & Tamago, the rolling toilet can play music, write messages in the air using residual light imagery, and talk. There's no word on what exactly the toilet says, but I imagine it has an extensive repertoire of potty humor.… Read more

NTT America soon will be able to claim a data center that runs on biogas.

The Japanese telecommunications company today said it will install five Bloom Energy fuel cells in its California data center that will use biogas as a fuel. It's a sign of the growing interest in cleaner fuel cell technology, which proponents say will increasingly be adapted for residential customers.

The fuel cells will be able to generate 500 kilowatts of power, which is enough for about 500 U.S. homes. At the data center, they will generate 4.2 million kilowatt-hours per year and reduce … Read more

Harvest Power, which converts organic waste into energy and soil fertilizer, today said it raised $51.7 million in a funding led by an investment company co-founded by Al Gore.

Generation Investment Management, started by Gore and David Blood as a firm focused on sustainability, will be the lead investor in Harvest Power's series B round. Also participating are existing investors Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Waste Management, Munich Venture Partners, and TriplePoint Capital.

Three-year-old Harvest Power specializes in extracting valuable products from organic waste, such as food scraps and yard clippings. It uses different techniques either to generate … Read more

Construction began yesterday in Florida on the grounds of a former citrus-processing factory to build one of the first commercial-scale biofuel plants in the U.S.

When completed and fully operational, the Indian River BioEnergy Center is expected to produce 8 million gallons of bio-ethanol per year.

The center will be run by Ineos New Planet BioEnergy (INPB), a joint venture formed by Ineos Bio, a subsidiary of the chemical conglomerate Ineos, and New Planet Energy, a company specializing in the commercialization of sustainable refinery technology.

The plant will use technology developed by Ineos that enables bacteria to produce biogas … Read more

The picturesque Cotswolds of England will soon be using those lovely animals dotting its hillsides to provide power to some of its homes.

A turnkey biogas station made by Alfagy plans to convert agricultural waste, including both feedstock and manure, into electricity.

The plant, which is scheduled to open November 1, is located on the southern outskirts of Cirencester, an ancient Cotswolds town famous for being a thriving mercantile city during the Roman Empire. But Alfagy says the station could reduce at least two of the area's current imports by using what its people have on hand.

While there … Read more

FuelCell Energy this week announced two deals through which its electricity-producing fuel cells will be powered by biogas from chicken waste and sewage.

The company, a competitor to the much-hyped Bloom Energy, has been making fuel cells for years aimed at commercial customers. The fuel cells produce electricity from different fuels, including methane made from organic material.

On Thursday, the Danbury, Conn.-based company said that it sold two 300-kilowatt machines to Eastern Municipal Water District for use at a wastewater facility in Riverside County, Calif.

There, an anaerobic digester, using microorganisms and heat, will break down biosolids into methane … Read more