Coffee and renewable energy in Central America.

Coffee and renewable energy in Central America. Turning waste water from coffee farms into biogas cuts down on pollution and provides sustainable energy.Coffee is the second most-valuable commodity in the world and in the year 2010 global consumption reached 8bn kg. However, many of us may not consider the negative environmental impact around the morning cup of coffee we rely on to start the day. Waste water generated from coffee wet-mill processing, which uses large amounts of water to remove the fruit of the seed, is often discharged untreated into the environment. This process pollutes ground water, basins and soils and affects rural communities’ drinking water, as well as local fauna and flora, and marine life in coastal areas. What’s more, it has also been discovered that coffee waste water generates a considerable amount of greenhouse gases, particularly methane. But coffee waste water is rich in organic matter, which can be used to generate energy via anaerobic decomposition.more