Burning Deceased Baby Boomers Could Generate Electricity

The ultimate going green

In Durham, England, corpses will soon be used to generate electricity. A crematorium is installing turbines in its burners that will convert waste heat from the combustion of each corpse into as much as 150 kilowatt-hours of juice — enough to power 1,500 televisions for an hour. The facility plans to sell the electricity to local power companies.

Some might find this concept creepy. Others might be pleased to learn that the process "makes cremation much greener by utilizing its by-products," in the words of cremation engineer Steve Looker, owner and chief executive officer of the Florida-based company B&L Cremation Systems, which is unaffiliated with the Durham enterprise.

In Europe, tightening regulations on crematorium emissions, coupled with the high price of energy, will lead more and more facilities to go the way of Durham in the future, Looker said. Will crematories in the United States follow suit?

http://www.livescience.com/17286-burnin ... icity.html

I think this would be a grand idea for the United States. The green crowd should fall in love with this. This would be perfect for the liberals and socialists. Hey... any lefties wanna get a foot up on this and volunteer while your still alive?

Hey, why not? I don't think it's creepy at all!

cydl wrote: Hey, why not? I don't think it's creepy at all!

Neither do I. I was just trying to see if anyone wanted to get a head start on this?

What a waste! Those bodies could first be harvested for tissue for transplantation.

Which is more important? People with better lives, because of a hand transplant or some other transplant, or generating electricity to watch TV.

Hmmmm, looking forward to what you think.

2wlady wrote: What a waste! Those bodies could first be harvested for tissue for transplantation.

Which is more important? People with better lives, because of a hand transplant or some other transplant, or generating electricity to watch TV.

Hmmmm, looking forward to what you think.

It's better then just burning them or jut burying them. Sure... organ harvesting would be good, but what ever, it offers another alternative to people who may be offended by organ harvesting. Anytime you can make better use of a dead body (especially dead liberals bodies) is better than not making any use out of them. But in principal, I agree with you.

Harvesting of organs and tissue for the purpose of transplants makes sense to me and now that Horse is back on the menu we don't have to worry so much about eating Soilent Green (for those not old enough to know:

[youtube:1rukt8v3][/youtube:1rukt8v3])

but what are the worms going to eat?! Are we messing with the food chain, will the Snowy Plover which is sometimes known to eat worms cease to exist?!

I also have to wonder if the amount of energy it takes to cremate a body is equal to or in excess of the electricity that can be generated from the thermal emissions. Of course there will be variants due to the size shape and composition of each body, consider the case of my late great uncle for example. My Great Uncle worked at the Jim Beam distillery, unfortunately in his day OSHA didn't exist yet so many of the common safety features of an industrial environment were not required back then. Sadly my Great Uncle fell into a vat of finished whiskey while working after hours and eventually drowned (confidentially, family lore indicates he drank as much as he could but it was too little to save himself). He wasn't a Christian man by the definition of the day and it came as no surprise to the family that his will indicated he wanted to be cremated instead of a traditional burial. In accordance with his will he was cremated and he burned for a week!

2wlady wrote: What a waste! Those bodies could first be harvested for tissue for transplantation.

Which is more important? People with better lives, because of a hand transplant or some other transplant, or generating electricity to watch TV.

Hmmmm, looking forward to what you think.

Just as an aside, I just finished reading "The Long Arm of Gill Hamilton" by Larry Niven.

It is about a future where citizens can live forever with a sufficient supply of transplant parts so over time most every crime carried the death penalty with all the parts harvested. It sound gruesome but Niven is a very good writer. He makes it interesting and entertaining.

No problem w/harvesting organs and cremating what's left...

otisptoadwater wrote: I also have to wonder if the amount of energy it takes to cremate a body is equal to or in excess of the electricity that can be generated from the thermal emissions. Of course there will be variants due to the size shape and composition of each body, consider the case of my late great uncle for example. My Great Uncle worked at the Jim Beam distillery, unfortunately in his day OSHA didn't exist yet so many of the common safety features of an industrial environment were not required back then. Sadly my Great Uncle fell into a vat of finished whiskey while working after hours and eventually drowned (confidentially, family lore indicates he drank as much as he could but it was too little to save himself). He wasn't a Christian man by the definition of the day and it came as no surprise to the family that his will indicated he wanted to be cremated instead of a traditional burial. In accordance with his will he was cremated and he burned for a week!

A good point - may not be energy efficient. That's an interesting question! And that's a great story! My condolences of course, but what a great story!