image credit: ortica on flickr
It sounds almost too weird to be plausible, but believe it or not, it’s true! Recently in the UK, a major crematorium announced plans to convert heat from burners to make electricity and consequently, reduce energy costs. Durham Crematorium responded to recent demands from the UK government (which required crematoriums to reduce harmful emissions in half by next year), by making some major changes.
Currently, Durham is undergoing a £2.3 million mission to install three new furnaces, two of which would include turbines to convert heat from cremation to change it to electricity. According to supervisor Alan Jose, “We will have far more electricity than we can possibly need, so we would be feeding a reasonable amount into the grid. If there is a genuine spare capacity to generate electricity, then we are certainly interested in that, apart from it being common sense for us to try and conserve energy, it also enables us to keep the fees down.”
What that means, is that after the crematorium sells electricity back to the National Grid, that energy would be resold and used in people’s homes. Jose has also made it clear that the crematorium does not intend to upset people, who might be taken aback about the prospect. Another interesting opinion has been that people can be comforted by giving back to communities one last time.
What are your thoughts on this controversial conversion? Would you want yourself to be cremated in a place that used your body for energy? Would you prefer such a thing? It’s definitely an interesting process that raises questions concerning ethics-and eco ethics as well.
Nowadays, people are looking beyond renewable energy for cars tucked behind garage doors, and are instead finding the potential energy in everything! This is certainly an exciting, albeit strange, time to be living in.
Sources: Care2.com, SunderlandEcho.com
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