Anyone remember ...
... the Monty Python undertaker sketch. Better avoid the cafe then - never know when they might "get an eater" in!
Redditch Borough Council has agreed to proceed with its plan to use waste energy from a crematorium to heat a municipal swimming pool. The provocative scheme gained cross-party support, and a final vote on the proposal saw 25 of 27 councillors in favour, with the remaining two abstaining. The project involves sucking heat …
will they have to stockpile fuel during the summer day(s) when the water needs less heating, saving the fuel blocks (bodies) for the winter when the heating needs to be turned up?
Will these fuel blocks be stacked around the outer walls like we see in picturesque scenes from the alps etc?
Just wanted to know that's all.
These crematoriums are gas-powered, right? It's not like they're flicking a lighter under a corpse and letting it burn itself out, throwing another one on top if the temperature of the pool drops a little low..
To me it makes sense to make use of the excess heat, rather than just let it go up a chimney as waste.
Also, can someone let me know why Unison are even involved? Are they now hoping to claim union dues from the recently deceased, or are they "representing" the views of the funeral directors and crematorium staff?
Incinerators for animals sometimes have the option for removing fat and making fuel for the incinerator itself. Takes a bit of energy to get a cow going, but if you have a pile of seal pups that washed up on the beach, they go up like match heads.
A bit more tricky at the crematorium. You could have the burger munchers powering the system for a few weeks when a car takes out a group of long distance runners, but families don't like it when people get mixed in together.
Given that gas burners are required to heat the body and to get it to burn in the first place, the energy input to start it burning, and to reduce it to ashes (including the calcium phosphate in bones, which doesn't burn but does break down under high temperatures in an endothermic process) is larger than the output from burning it. In this case, the proportion of the waste heat coming from the gas burners would be 100%.
Of course, if they wanted to get even more energy from waste heat, they could attach heat exchangers to the mouths of Unison members and Daily Mail readers and harness all the hot air coming from those places. I might object to my local pool being heated from the noxious fumes emitted though...
"Exactly the point missed in all the debates on the subject in the media. Does anyone know the ratio of heat from gas:bodies that could be extracted on average (and is Redditch's population averagely fat?)"
Wasn't that the former constituency of Jacquie Smith, ex Home Secretary?
I seem to recall the West Midlands tops the list of UK counties for obesity at 29% of the population.
But is Redditch in the West Midlands?
Normally I'm pro union -
"The Conservative Council want to use excess heat generated by the incinerator to warm the water for swimmers. Commenting on the proposals Roger McKenzie, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:" etc
http://www.unison.org.uk/westmidlands/pages_view.asp?did=12364
However the local paper says:
"She said that undertakers and faith group representatives who attended meetings had been supportive and only a handful of resident had express concerns.
“Many have praised the council for being so innovative and willing to discuss the idea openly.”
She added that other councils were watching and would follow suit.
There was enthusiastic support from the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat groups.
Labour group leader Bill Hartnett emphasised the green credentials of the project, saying that the cost saving is a secondary concern."
FFS!
They are already paying a huge wedge for the gas at the crem and also to heat the pool - why not go for the greener and cheaper option and use the waste heat.
Or is it that there are Unison member who would have the Union go back to Union roots which was employers and businessmen running restricted businesses for ther own pockets?
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Radio4 did an article on this the other day. Apparently the crem has some kit to remove mercury from what would go up the chimney and it needs the gasses to be cooled significantly (down to 160C IIRC). The council were faced with the adding a heat exchanger and either dumping the heat with a potential compalint about global warming or doing some good with their 'free' energy. Bit of joined up thinking (IMHO) was applied et voila...
Maybe a few power stations could be run in a similar way and reduce the cooling tower clouds that can be seen for 30 miles as they dump 'waste' energy.
There was possibly another option, namely not putting mercury into the crem. I'm so glad they decided not to remove teeth from the customers. Might've caused controversy...
I think it's an excellent idea. As far as I'm concerned when I've finished using this body anyone can do anything useful they like with it. After stripping out any reusable bits (unlikely given age and lifestyle admittedly) using it for heat, road repairs, fertiliser, sword tempering, Soylent Green manufacture, etc seems like a damned fine plan.
Roger McKenzie, regional secretary for Unison, told Reuters: "These proposals are sick and an insult to local residents."
Im insulted by this dick. I am a resident and discusted by this nob and his view. He isnt even from Redditch. Suggest he sticks his head up his bottom and minds his own.
GO for the plan, and FAIL for Unison.
Chinese have an aversion to places and things associated with death.
You'll never find a Chinese person buying a house near a cemetery or in a hotel near one, either. The Caravelle Hotel in SaiGon is a suicide jumpers favourite spot and the Chinese avoid it, too.
In the swimming pool they possible would be worried that their ancestors might happen by, as they often do, on a day when the rest of the family is enjoying a dip. If you see a Chinese person burning make-believe money, often it is for their deceased family members.
And as other El Reg articles have shown Mercury is a *very* nasty long term poison.
I'm frankly amazed more (most?) crematoria don't have some kind of heat recovery system already.
If you choose to go with cremation it's tough to get the human body to ignite and I think anything which recovers some of that heat (within reason) is a brilliant idea. IIRC some power station cooling water is used to heat fish farms. Would anybody have found *that* idea as comment worthy?