Garbage-powered garbage truck now making its way across merry England
By Laura June 
posted Feb 2nd 2009 9:32PM
posted Feb 2nd 2009 9:32PM
The Brits get all the cool stuff -- Queen Elizabeth II, The Sex Pistols... and now a rubbish truck that runs on rubbish (sort of). That's right: up in Huddersfield they've just unleashed a modded three-and-a-half ton Smith Edison Ford Transit garbage truck that tools around, picking up garbage, hauls it to a nearby Energy from Waste power station and recycling center which then burns the 'bage to make electricity for the next day's route. The garbage also produces about 10 megawatts of excess electricity per day which is dumped into the grid for added fun. The truck's got a top speed of about 50 miles per hour, and is apparently so quiet that the locals fear it could be dangerous to unsuspecting pedestrians. Maybe they could slap a speaker on there and pump some Oasis as a warning? Just a thought.
Oasis? try Radiohead.
that would be nice.
A speedy British dump truck,
I'm amazed that I survived.
Radiohead saved my life.
A rubbish-powered rubbish truck trundling along at 50mph is a pretty good metaphor for this whole country...
Surely Scottish/American band Garbage would be more appropriate?
But... can't they burn the bodies they run over? :D
Maybe something more entertaining than Oasis.
Like recordings of Radio 4's Quote Unquote. The only radio show guaranteed to induce coma.
Where's the flux capacitor doc?
Oh don't worry, it has it. Hence the 50 MPH speed cap- they don't want it going back in time to re-collect garbage it's already burned.
That's Mr. Fusion you're thinking of.
This sucker's electric!
roads? where we're going, we don't need roads...
great idea
we should get these
it would save energy and produce more for the better of humanity. ahah
its Huddersfield. you are missing the s.
"The garbage also produces about 10 megawatts of excess electricity per day which is dumped into the grid for added fun."
DUMPED into the grid.
*sigh*
more like *groan*
Wonder how long before they start building generators like that into huge ships. You could pull a barge full of trash behind, sorta like the coal car on a steam engine. Actually...that's not a bad idea.
Food for the crew could then consist of the hovering seagulls you blast out of the sky,
Not a bad idea at all, if you do say so yourself!
Wait, its the Green Garbage machine, but the process to make the electricity seems to be so far from Green. I mean burning garbage can have adverse effect on the environment, especially cause you dont know what people throw away. Now if it ran off of the methane produced by rotting garbage, that would be a more effective and efficient vehicle.
It is very doubtful it is actually burning the garbage.. Look up plasma gassification -- it is essentially heated to an enormous temperature without oxygen and breaks down into basic hydrocarbons that are then used for fuel..
Why couldn't they come up with something that could turn the garbage into electricity right on the truck? And store the excess in a battery or something.....that would be much cooler....
Probably because the tech required to convert garbage into electricity is bigger then the truck....but hey, it would be pretty amazing.... :)
TEN POINT ZERO ZERO MEGAWATTS?!
I doubt you mean "burn" the garbage.. Most likely it uses plasma gassification which doesn't release C02..
I doubt you mean "burn" the garbage.. Most likely it uses plasma gassification which is much cleaner and doesn't release very much ash and C02..
@ "The truck's got a top speed of about 50 miles per hour, and is apparently so quiet that the locals fear it could be dangerous to unsuspecting pedestrians."
two words...
Whistle Tips. It's that WOO WOOOOOO.
HAHAHHA!! What was that crazy dude's name from the interview again??
Bubb Rubb was his name
Wow neato!
Http://www.jaidersucksmonkeyballs.com
Yo dawg, I heard you like garbage.
All we need now are self-powered toilets
imagine how much power and money they save by only picking up garbage every two weeks and fining households if they have too much garbage to pick up at that time.
Yes that happens.
Oasis?!? Screw that, they should have a loudspeaker playing Iron Maiden on that truck! Instead of walking out in front of it, I would stop on the side of the road due to the irresistible urge to bang my head and give them the horns! \m/
The Brits get all the cool stuff -- Queen Elizabeth II
I fail to see how cool she is.
You certainly do.
She has her own country, her own song, lots of very big houses, more bling than a gangsta rapper and a carriage plated in gold. If that is not cool then nothing is.......
That would make sense, nobody would want to go near Oasis music.
it would go on foverer with the amounts of garbage we have in Brum.......
And yeah, some Maiden, plz
Not surprising that Kirklees has it, that area's a dump so there's enough rubbish to use. Wakefield D ftw!
It's nice to see Amy Winehouse working again.
A soon as anyone that lives downwind from the trash burning measures the dioxins being emited and they are breathing the lawsuits will start.
I just dont get how burning garbage does this without also being harmful?
Sweet idea though.....
The truck is built by Smith Electric Vehicles. It’s worth taking a look at the Case Studies page on their website http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com to see some of the other uses to which about 400 of these vehicles have been put in the past year or so. In the 85 years they’ve been in business, they have quietly shipped an estimated 70 thousand electric vehicles worldwide!
Here in Iceland we've had garbagetrucks that run on methane for few years now. The methane is collected at a landfill and pumped into a tank and then its used to fill up the trucks.