Dogs and cats in the United States produce about 10 million tons of waste a year, according to Will Brinton, an environmental scientist and owner-director of Woods End Laboratories in Maine. If the feces could be harvested into a digestor to trap and burn methane in an effecient cogeneration facility, both electricity and home heating requirements for a small number of homes could be met. This would go a long way to reducing landfill waste and the resultant leachate from organic decomposition, which currently compromises about 5% of the waste stream.

Norcal Waste Systems Inc., San Francisco’s garbage company, plans to test collection carts and biodegradable bags in a city-center park popular with dog walkers. San Francisco runs an aggressive program to recycle bottles, cans, paper and other trash and now diverts two-thirds of its garbage away from landfills.

A picture of the fuel was purposefully not added.