9 Wacky & Wild Ideas For Alternative Energy (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

Of course, you know about wind farms and solar power, right? But did you know that we can generate electricity from our human sewage waste? How about by creating tornadoes? Others have made dance floors that generate electricity for their nightclubs and genetically engineered bugs that actually poop out crude oil!

Here are 9 wacky and wild forms of alternative energy. They might just be the solution we need for a clean energy planet. Let us know which ones you like best!

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Poop Power

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Let's be honest, no matter how much we humans reduce our waste output there is still one byproduct that's unavoidable: POOP! Though sewage has a history of being converted into fertilizer, that method is now coming under serious criticism due to the amount of pollutants and chemicals found in this mixture. Fortunately, many people are catching on to the amazing potential that the bodily wastes of both humans and animals hold for sustainable energy. People have been using digesters for decades, a machine that through anaerobic digestion uses bacteria to break down the organic material in waste matter, producing methane gas which is then burned for energy. Using the manure from his 600 cows, one Pennsylvania farmer is able to power his farm and a dozen neighboring homes, even selling leftover energy back to the grid. He approximates his savings to be $200,000 a year. One estimate claims that the daily waste from a single person could power a 60-watt light bulb for 9 hours. It's only a matter of time before our cities are powered by poop!

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Let's be honest, no matter how much we humans reduce our waste output there is still one byproduct that's unavoidable: POOP! Though sewage has a history of being converted into fertilizer, that method is now coming under serious criticism due to the amount of pollutants and chemicals found in this mixture. Fortunately, many people are catching on to the amazing potential that the bodily wastes of both humans and animals hold for sustainable energy. People have been using digesters for decades, a machine that through anaerobic digestion uses bacteria to break down the organic material in waste matter, producing methane gas which is then burned for energy. Using the manure from his 600 cows, one Pennsylvania farmer is able to power his farm and a dozen neighboring homes, even selling leftover energy back to the grid. He approximates his savings to be $200,000 a year. One estimate claims that the daily waste from a single person could power a 60-watt light bulb for 9 hours. It's only a matter of time before our cities are powered by poop!

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Comments

[Joe Faust]

11:38 PM on 07/23/2010

Gyms that have weight machines.... let all those lifts be generating electricity to run the lights of the gym.

[DEV KUMAR]

09:47 AM on 07/05/2010

energy saving is good for him who save one should save energy as he can

[sfsub4use]

11:59 PM on 07/02/2010

Has anyone considered availing of the internet as a source of energy?

[InfoonGolf]

11:33 PM on 06/04/2010

Wow! I think many people could benefit from this link...you can learn how to convert into green power and eliminate your power bill http://www.reviewsbydannysky.com/goinggreen/

[worker beenumbed]

09:56 PM on 05/26/2010

cheapest per dollar spent is the is the transparent tape over the seams of the windows.I would only buy energy star certified windows in the future.

[worker beenumbed]

09:53 PM on 05/26/2010

I installed a sheet of plexiglass over the inside frames of the windows I do not open.Held with twisting screen clips to remove.The new windows were not energy star class so they leaked.Cannot see without looking hard.Curtains stay cleaner.First seal seams of windows with transparent tape which is sold for this purpose.

[research]

07:17 PM on 05/25/2010

Waste Bio Fuels is the green baseload power source.

http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/publ/BiofBioproBioref%203,%20547-562,%202009%20Laird.pdf

26$ per barrel bio oil from waste bio char.””

[Benover de Viros]

10:27 AM on 05/25/2010

What about capturing energy from lightening

[KillerWolf777]

08:42 AM on 05/25/2010

Nikoli Tesla talked about free energy the last turn of the Century, this is a man who really created the electronic age, and most of his incredible ideas are still in use. I think the Government should give modern physicists & scientists access to his seized notes & papers that were taken upon his death, and see if we can use any of his very efficient ideas now.

[worker beenumbed]

06:50 AM on 05/25/2010

Cows belch much more methane than they fart.Train them to belch into a container .That leads to a flame which will intensify to boil water for a tutbine.

[mrjames1]

02:56 AM on 05/25/2010

I hear Mr Emmett Brown of Hill Valley California has devised a way of capturing 1.21 gigawatts of power from each lightning strike.

Unfortunately he is tied up in litigation with Mssrs. McFly and Tannen over ownership, so when it comes to market is anyone's guess

[Lawdog10]

11:58 AM on 05/26/2010

Beautiful.

[Rattlecan]

02:45 AM on 05/25/2010

I think a few of these ideas violate the second law of thermodynamics.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

01:55 AM on 05/25/2010

Put wind generators at the end of runways. When the jets throttle up...electricity!

[worker beenumbed]

06:33 AM on 05/25/2010

Excellent.

[worker beenumbed]

06:55 AM on 05/25/2010

They must be situated so as not to obstruct landing planes.Midway airport now has deflecters to keep the autos from being blown off Cicaro Ave.Turbines could go there.

[OleProfessor]

12:30 AM on 05/25/2010

We can just Grow Industrial Hemp!

It can do for us what Sugar Cane did for Brazil..

Hemp 4 Fuel.com

http://www.hemp4fuel.com/page.php?2

See Why Hemp..?

So easy...

[fumes]

11:07 PM on 05/24/2010

re: tornado power..

why not just build phony trailer parks throughout the midwest..

and wait for the tornadoes to show up?

[Whatnow]

06:35 AM on 05/25/2010

Why phony