Ashes to ashes, heat to homes

In a world that’s increasingly looking under every imaginable rock for a new potential energy source, can it come as a surprise that cremation could become a community heating source?

That’s the case in the Swedish town of Halmstad, where cemetery operators have found a silver energy lining in their plans to reduce crematorium emissions. While installing new ovens to reduce pollution, the folks at the Halmstad cemetery have decided to tap the heat of cremation emissions — which reach up to 1000 degrees Celsius — to provide warmth for facilities at the cemetery.

The move will also reduce the cemetery’s costs to cool emissions before they are released into the atmosphere, reports the Telegraph UK.

If the plan is successful, crematorium operators say they would next work to pipe additional heat from their facilities into Halmstad’s heating network to provide warmth to area homes. The Telegraph article notes the proposal is so far being welcomed by locals.

“Of course it’s possible that there will be some discussion about the ethics of this, but from our side, this is a purely environmental idea,” the article quotes cemetery director Lennart Andersson.

“Waste not, want not,” is certainly taking on whole new meanings these days, isn’t it?