Press Release

California drivers shift gear to new hydrogen 'poop-powered' cars

Some California drivers may drive around in poop-powered cars as early as next year.

They can fill up at a sewage treatment facility run by the Orange County sanitation district, which plans to turn the inflow of excrement and other waste into hydrogen for vehicles that run on fuel cell systems.

Scott Samuelsen, the director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California's Irvine campus, said: This is kind of a Holy Grail in the search for renewable energy sources. This is not something we're at risk of running out of.

The programme is among the first to mine green power from a brown source.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, is pushing for the state to derive 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources, cut greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide by 60 percent, and increase the availability of fuels that do not contribute to global warming.

Jon Spallino, the first US owner of a fuel cell vehicle, said it would not bother him to use hydrogen made from waste, nor to fill up at a sewage plant.

I like the idea of taking something that's not otherwise being put to use and turning it into something useful,he said.

California already has more than 100 fuel cell cars on its roads.