Post Reply
Page 1 of 3  •  1 2 3 Next
Switch to Forum Live View A Really Hot Topic
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 12:50PM #1
Stardove
Stardove
Posts: 12,797
Are Dead People Our Next Renewable Energy Source?

A crematorium in the United Kingdom recently announced that it would use heat from its burners to produce electricity and bring down its energy costs.

In Britain, crematoriums are a major source of air pollution from the mercury in dental fillings. The government has mandated that all such establishments cut their emissions in half by next year and eliminate them altogether by the end of the decade.

Durham Crematorium decided to take the required renovation as an opportunity to reduce its utility bills as well as its toxic emissions.


A dead heat - crematorium to sell power for National Grid

A crematorium is planning to become the first in the UK to generate electricity to sell to the National Grid - by using heat from its furnaces.

Durham Crematorium wants to install turbines in two of its burners, which would use the heat generated during the cremation process to provide the same amount of electricity as would power 1,500 televisions.

A third burner is to be used to provide heating for the site's chapel and its offices.

More at links.

With the cost of a funerals it seems more people are choosing cremation for their loved ones or people are making sure cremation is what happens when they die.


Why are more and more people getting cremated rather than buried?

Click on link for some answers to this question on Yahoo.

Beliefnet Community Wide Moderator ~ Peace Love Stardove
Problems? Send a message to Beliefnet_community

Nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your progress.
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 1:01PM #2
mainecaptain
mainecaptain
Posts: 20,497

If I am understanding this correctly, I kind of like the idea. I don't mind helping create energy with my remains.

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. Aristotle
Never discourage anyone...who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. Plato..
"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives" Jackie Robinson
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 1:57PM #3
REteach
REteach
Posts: 13,195

Ditto.  I won't be there any more.  

I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize what you heard was not what I meant...
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 3:04PM #4
vra
vra
Posts: 5,764

My friends and relatives have been saying that I've been polluting the air all my life, so why should I stop after I'm dead?
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 3:25PM #5
Wanderingal
Wanderingal
Posts: 5,504

Dec 4, 2011 -- 1:01PM, mainecaptain wrote:


If I am understanding this correctly, I kind of like the idea. I don't mind helping create energy with my remains.




Me too. If my physical leftovers can help in some way rather than causing problems I'd consider that a "good death."


"Just let me die in the grass."
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 4:14PM #6
Stardove
Stardove
Posts: 12,797

Dec 4, 2011 -- 1:01PM, mainecaptain wrote:


If I am understanding this correctly, I kind of like the idea. I don't mind helping create energy with my remains.



I do believe you got the point.  The heat/fire to cremate a body is really high, so this one company has decided while having to cut emissions (by law) why not go ahead and harvest the energy of the fire to create energy.


Trains used to run on coal fires.


Locally we have a train with a steam engine of which goes from Grapevine to the Fort Worth Stockyards.  It is totally a tourist thing, not public transportation. It puts off a lot of black smoke, too.  I've only taken the ride once and that was enough for me.  I felt like "I had been taken for a ride."  Went with friends from out of town or I would not have gone that one time.

Beliefnet Community Wide Moderator ~ Peace Love Stardove
Problems? Send a message to Beliefnet_community

Nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your progress.
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 5:32PM #7
rangerken
rangerken
Posts: 13,714

1. Great idea....seriously...I like it.


And now being a little not so serious.....


2. Given the demonstrated level of hot air on Beliefnet, to which I am proud to have been contributing for over ten years, I have no doubt that many of us would provide superior levels of energy.


3. We could think of ourselves as potential exothermic reactions with Kilojoules waiting to be used.


Ken

Conservative, Libertarian, Life member of the NRA and VFW
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 5:48PM #8
rocketjsquirell
rocketjsquirell
Posts: 12,014

Putting aside my reservations about cremation, I think it is a great idea, why waste resources? 
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 6:56PM #9
mountain_man
mountain_man
Posts: 34,168

Dec 4, 2011 -- 5:48PM, rocketjsquirell wrote:

Putting aside my reservations about cremation, I think it is a great idea, why waste resources?


It takes a lot of gas to cremate a human body, far more than the body itself contributes to the process. It's that left over heat that would be use.


Good idea..... but of course.... I have a better one; a natural burial. That would be just the body, no casket, no embalming, if desired a biodegradable paper bag, and that's it. An RFID tag would be place in the grave, but no other marker of any kind. If appropriate to the location, a tree may be planted and you can fertilize the tree as you decay.


It appears I'm not the only one with this idea; here's more info.


I was going to be cremated, but I like this better. It feels more like it completes the cycle.

Dave - Just a Man in the Mountains.

I am a Humanist. I believe in a rational philosophy of life, informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by a desire to do good for its own sake and not by an expectation of a reward or fear of punishment in an afterlife.
Quick Reply
Cancel
1 year ago  ::  Dec 04, 2011 - 7:13PM #10
rocketjsquirell
rocketjsquirell
Posts: 12,014

Mountainman


Except for the RFD tag, you are describing traditional Jewish burial. No embalming - 100% bio-degradable (the quicker the better). We also like to use grave markers in order to preserve the site from later disturbance. 
Quick Reply
Cancel
Page 1 of 3  •  1 2 3 Next
Post Reply
 
    Viewing this thread :: 0 registered and 1 guest
    No registered users viewing
    Advertisement

    Beliefnet On Facebook