Green Cities

My brother-in-law sent me the following link which explains how the city of Rialto, CA - a suburb of Los Angeles - in partnership with Chevron built a wastewater treatment system which converts WVO into electricity. In addition to significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and curtailing landfill waste, the city (population 100,000) is projecting an annual savings of $800,000. Millbrae, located about 15 miles outside of San Francisco, has a similar system operating at their wastewater treatment facility which converts 3,000 gallons of WVO into renewable, clean power each day.

Obviously, if municipalities start collecting and converting WVO there will be little if any fuel available for our personal grease mobile but I'm not too concerned. As a resident of the midwest I know from experience that it takes many years - and sometimes decades - for California trends to reach us out here in the heartland. I don't expect the Jetta to last indefinitely, and my desire is for new technologies and options to be available when the grease mobile expires and we purchase another vehicle. Maybe in another 5-10 years the price of a Tesla will decrease enough to make it financially viable for our household.

The other perspective is that I look forward to the possibility of living in a community that is more environmentally responsible. Imagine the impact to the city's air quality if 11 million pounds of carbon dioxide were removed from the atmosphere annually - that's equivalent to eliminating 1080 vehicles and their emissions from our roads. Although each of us can and should do our part, the potential for great change rests with the larger systems in our communities.