The City of San Jose, capital of the Silicon Valley, has announced plans to move ahead in building the first organics-to-energy biogas facility in America. Now this technology, which has already been proven successful in Europe, has made its way to San Jose.

This project brings San Jose much closer to becoming 100% energy independent. The biogas facility, Zanker Road Biogas, would be built on a 40-acre site, would convert up to 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and would produce energy that would otherwise have been destined for a landfill.

San Jose’s Zanker BioGas would employ approximately 30-40 workers during development and is expected to create and retain 50-60 direct and supporting jobs when fully operational. With this news, San Jose furthers its Green Vision program goals, chief among them, to divert 100% of their waste away from landfills and convert to waste energy, and create 25,000 clean tech jobs.

This facility when built will not only aid in creating jobs and moving forward toward renewable energy, but will also aid in stimulating the economy through innovation and technology.

On Wednesday Stockholm Water Prize was awarded to Bindeshwar Pathak for his work developing eco-friendly and inexpensive toilets to bolster public health.

Pathak, a sanitation expert who founded the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in India in 1970, has worked “to improve public health, advance social progress and improve human rights in India and other countries,” stated the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) jury in a citation.

“The results of Dr. Pathak’s endeavours constitute one of the most amazing examples of how one person can impact the well-being of millions.”

Pathak’s eco-friendly toilet systems require significantly less water per flush at only 1.5 liters. Astounding considering that conventional toilets use almost seven times that amount. This factor had a particularly large impact on drought stricken regions.

A true pioneer in renewable energy, Pathak also developed systemd that convert human waste into biogas that can then be used for heating, cooking and electricity generation. Now we’re cooking with gas!