US sewage plant to run on power from restaurant grease

Electricity from a generator fueled by used kitchen grease will power a San Francisco-area sewage plant in a pioneering shift to renewable energy sources, officials announced. The Chevron oil company and the city of Millbrae have teamed up to convert a water pollution control facility to “green power,” according to a statement. “Life is energy, and when you waste energy, you waste life,” said Dick York, superintendent of the Millbrae sewage plant. The upgrades at the facility “provide a novel solution to reduce the burden on landfills, support our own energy needs and simultaneously recoup costs” and could be a model for similar plants nationwide, according to York. The Millbrae plant will receive and process inedible cooking grease in a system specifically designed to control odor, generate reliable power, reduce energy costs and provide a new municipal revenue stream, the statement said, Inedible kitchen grease and other organic material will be converted to natural gas that project backers referred to as “free biofuel.” afp

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