Halloween's pumpkins turned into power

What happens to all those Halloween pumpkins, lovingly carved by kids and adults alike, after the trick or treating ends? Clever minds in Oakland are turning pumpkins into power that runs a wastewater treatment plant.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) collects the pumpkins and other food waste and puts them into anaerobic digesters or giant tanks, where bacteria break them down and release methane gas as a byproduct. It captures the gas and uses it to generate electricity -- quite a bit.

Digesting 100 tons of food wastes five days a week can produce enough electricity to power 1,000 homes, reports environmental website Mother Nature Network, citing the U.S. Department of Energy. There's another benefit, too. After the food waste has been digested, DOE says the remaining solids make an excellent natural fertilizer for next year's pumpkin crop.

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In a blog post this week, DOE's Matthew Loveless says DOE is working with industry to develop and test integrated biofineries that can convert discarded pumpkins and other organic waste into affordable biofuels, biopower and other products. He says two of them, Enerkem in Mississippi and INEOS Bio in Florida, use a gasification process to convert such waste into both ethanol and electricity.