Metro

How Rutgers’ cafeteria-fueled bug farts are powering New Jersey

Bug farts — fueled by greasy college cafeteria food — are lighting up buildings in New Jersey, experts told The Post on Friday.

“We harness their gas to power generators,” said Devin Dam, a sales rep from energy firm Russell Reid. “It’s saving taxpayers millions.”

To let the alternative energy rip, the firm collects thousands of gallons of fatty waste from Rutgers University’s dining hall, he said.

Workers dump the oily goop into a massive machine where “bugs” — aka bacteria — chow down on it and pass gas, he said.

That raw methane then gets converted to reusable natural gas, which is used to power Union and Essex counties.

“It basically works like a human stomach,” Dam said.

The gas powers three 800-kilowatt generators, creating up to 3.2 megawatts of electricity — and saving taxpayers roughly $2 million annually, he said.





“You save money because you don’t have to pay a power company. You don’t have to pay Con Ed,” he said.

Rutgers University — along with hundreds of other colleges and restaurants — collects food grease in traps to avoid clogging plumbing “like an artery,” Dam said.

Last month, the firm converted more than 215,000 gallons of the grease into natural gas, he said.

Other parts of the country have begun to sniff out the money-saving method, too.

“It’s great, and it’s starting to happen all over the place,” Dam said.





Share this: