French cheese has traditionally been praised for its delicious taste and texture rather than its capacity to generate electric power, reports The Independent.
But this could be about to change.
In the French Alps, a cheese-based power station is producing enough electricity to supply a community of 1,500 inhabitants.
The town of Albertville, in Savoie, is well known for its production of Beaufort, a firm cow’s milk cheese, and one of France’s flagship food features.
Since October, the skimmed whey left over from the Beaufort production in Albertville is being transformed into a biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, which generates electricity and warm water.
Whey is better known are the transparent liquid at the top of yogurts and is unnecessary to make Beaufort cheese.
Bacterias are added to the whey, which is a greenish coloured liquid made of sugar and minerals salts, and is used by the bacteria as food, a process which produces methane and transforms the whey into biogas.