'Undercover Boss,' feel-good television

Now may not be the best time to debut a series that shows the positive side of big American corporations and the men who run them. As the narrator of the new reality series “Undercover Boss” says, times are hard, and “many Americans blame wealthy CEOs.”

Nonetheless, the show, which will premiere in the plum post-Super Bowl slot this Sunday on CBS, expects us to empathize with and even like top corporate executives. In the series, the bosses will go incognito to perform various low-level jobs at their own corporations and presumably learn how their own directives play out on the front lines.

Posted on February 19th

Powering the farm

In rural Hamilton a veal farm puts out $2 million to convert waste to methane and produce electricity.

Manure from 3,000 veal calves on a Valens-area farm will start producing enough power to supply 500 homes next month.

Industry officials say Delft Blue Veal will be one of only a half-dozen Ontario farms -- and the first in this area -- with an on-site biogas plant turning manure into electricity for sale to the provincial grid.

Posted on February 19th

Sewage presents powerful potential

Iregional district turning biomass energy into usable electricity.

Once the sewage settles and is processed in any wastewater treatment plant, left behind is a heaping helping of biomass.

Normally this leftover from the treatment process is hauled off for disposal, but the Regional District of Nanaimo has eyed it up – or at least the methane it produces – as a reliable and sustainable fuel supply for heat and electricity production at the Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre on Hammond Bay Road...

Posted on February 19th

Human, industrial waste goes green

What do you get when you cross industrial waste with human waste?

Valuable soil where plants can grow, according to new research by a land reclamation expert at the University of Alberta.

Prof. Anne Naeth has been studying the process in which treated sewage sludge -- called biosolids -- is combined with lime-kiln dust, a byproduct produced during the manufacture of lime. Testing in Naeth's U of A greenhouse has shown the mix kills pathogens such as E. coli in the human waste, affects dangerous heavy metals so they won't wash into lakes and rivers, and produces an organic soil material where beneficial bacteria and plants can grow.

Posted on January 6th

Scientists turn waste into gold

Millions of tonnes of unwanted waste spewed out by Australia’s powerstations, mineral processing plants and municipalities can be re-usedto create fertility, health, wealth, beauty and abundance..

Posted on October 7th

What if a sewage plant could use the wastewater as a fuel source and create pure water?

Vincent A. Zampellispent nearly a year creating microbial fuel cells and running dailytests on his creation to make this possible.

The fuel cells have earned him a handful of awards at engineering and science fairs around the country.

And he hasn't even started college yet...

Posted on July 20th

Growing septic waste issues need solution

PALMER -- What happens after a flush is a topic most people don't spend much time thinking about.

But dealing with that waste is becoming a big problem in the Valley and is likely going to require an expensive fix.

Both Wasilla and Palmer are facing serious problems with their
treatment plants that limit their ability to treat more waste without
expensive upgrades.

Posted on July 2nd