Many of us need a morning cup of coffee to kick start our day, but coffee can do more than fuel our minds, it can power buildings and transport as well.
A UK based start-up, called Bio-Bean is turning used coffee beans from London coffee shops into green energy.
It has been estimated that London’s coffee shops produce more than 200,000 tons of coffee waste every year. Currently, most of the leftovers from coffee stores and roasting plants are incinerated or deposited in landfill which releases harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The Bio-Bean Way
Bio-Bean collects waste from coffee shops, roasting facilities and freeze dried coffee facilities around London. It is taken to the company’s processing plant where through a patented technique, the waste is converted to two products – bio-diesel and biomass pellets. These are then sold to buildings. The start-up also has its eyes set on supplying bio-fuel to the London Transport network. Other outfits that have expressed an interest are coffee companies and high street chains to fuel their transport fleets.
Big Ambition
Bio-bean hopes that annually it will be able to convert 30,000 tons of coffee waste into 1.3 million liters of bio-diesel and 1.2 million tons of biomass pellets.
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Bio-Bean was inspired into action by two global concerns: the need for responsible waste collection and disposal and the need for cheap, environmentally-friendly energy.