Confiscated Booze Turned Into Fuel

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

185,000 gallons of alcohol were confiscated at the Swedish border last year, and authorities have an interesting use for it. They turned most of it into fuel for the public transport network.
This may sound very clever, until you hear what they used to do with it, "We used to just pour it down the drain, but because of the increased volumes we had to look around for new solutions," said customs spokeswoman, Ingrid Jerlebrink.

As clever as the new solution is, you have to question the intelligence of an organisation that would annually destroy 185,000 gallons of booze, especially in a country where you have to take out a bank loan to buy a beer.

The alcohol is transported to Linkoping, where it’s converted into biogas. This is used in 1,000 trucks and buses, and even one train in Sweden. Jerlebrink said, "We pump it into a big tank that we jokingly call 'the giant cocktail' and then a truck just comes and picks it up.”

Sweden are already far ahead of most countries; in 2003 25% of the total energy consumed came from renewable sources. In the same year the EU average was 6%. ::MSNBC