L'impianto idrico bulgaro che trasforma i rifiuti in energia e prodotti
Far arrivare l'acqua ai nostri rubinetti e poi trattarla produce il 5% circa delle emissioni di gas serra di molti Paesi. Ma un impianto idrico in Bulgaria va controcorrente. Può essere un esempio da imitare perché il settore idrico arrivi allo zero netto?
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00:00All of us go several times a day, but what's the carbon footprint of our daily water use
00:06and could we get more from the waste we flush away?
00:10That's exactly what this state-of-the-art water plant in Bulgaria has been set up to
00:14do.
00:15Generate as much power and products from the stuff it takes in.
00:23A few hours after somebody goes to the toilet in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, what gets flushed
00:28ends up here.
00:30The Cabratoga Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of the most energy efficient in Europe.
00:34Stanislav is showing me around.
00:37We collect the wastewater from the Sofia citizens.
00:41We treat it here so that it's clean in the river and in the process we produce biogas.
00:46This biogas is then transformed into electricity and heat.
00:50The heat is used for our processes and the electricity is used to satisfy the needs of
00:55this plant.
00:57How much energy are you producing here?
00:59We are producing 24,000 megawatt hours per year.
01:03This is the equivalent of feeding 2,300 homes annually.
01:08What's different about this plant compared to any other?
01:11The difference is the amount of biogas produced.
01:14Usually wastewater treatment plants are producing 50-60% of their own needs and here we cover
01:21more than 100% of our needs.
01:23We are also saving CO2 emissions, approximately 70,000 tons per year.
01:28It takes a lot of energy to move and treat our water.
01:31On top of that, CO2 wastewater produces gases like methane.
01:36In many countries the water industry accounts for around 5% of all the greenhouse gas emissions,
01:42a figure comparable to the aviation industry.
01:45So we've just come into Sofia as the IPCC are holding a meeting in the city and they've
01:50given us a green light for an interview.
01:53Can the water industry lead the way then to net zero?
01:57This is one of the industries where it's not impossible to get down to net zero emissions
02:02or in fact zero emissions because we have many opportunities to use water much more
02:08efficiently.
02:09We also have many opportunities to reuse those gases which are now greenhouse gases but instead
02:16use these for energy production.
02:19This can become net zero especially if the energy we use for this is coming from renewable
02:26energy sources.
02:27Back at the plant, Stanislav tells me they plan to go further.
02:32We're just commissioning a new plant which will boost the biogas production by 10-15%
02:37a year and we're installing photovoltaics but it's not only this plant.
02:42We are exchanging with our colleagues trying to inspire the other plants to reach energy
02:47self-sufficiency as this is something that the group is asking us to push forward.
02:52That's it for this episode.
02:54We'll be back soon for more Water Matters.