Posted on 09/13/2010 12:26:12 PM PDT by billorites
A methane digester called "Park Spark" has been installed in a dog park in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The device produces methane by bacterial digestion of the dog excrement, and the methane is used to light a gas-burning street lamp.
People walking their dogs are encouraged to collect the feces, place them into the supplied biodegradable doggie bags and drop them into the digester feeding tube. They then turn a hand crank to stir the mixture of excrement and anaerobic bacteria in the Spark Park digester and help the methane rise to the top where it is burned constantly in the lamp, like an “eternal flame”.
The bacteria are confined to an underground container and the methane is piped underground to the lamp. Methane is the colorless and odorless gas that forms the major component of “natural gas” used for cooking and heating.
The idea was the brainchild of Matthew Mazzotta, a conceptual artist, and the project was partly funded by the Council of the Arts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The team hopes there will be enough methane generated to power other objects in the park and surrounding community, such as shadow projection boxes, tea carts, or popcorn stands, but the main aim is to demonstrate to the community that waste is a precious resource. “As long as people are walking dogs and throwing away dog poo, a flame can burn,” they say on their website.
The eternal flame of the lamp is intended as a reminder of the “redundant and unquestioned” nature of our behavior, and will burn until someone comes up with a better idea for using the energy available.
Methane digesters are used in many places around the world for cooking, heating and lighting. They can use almost any organic materials, and large scale digesters often use materials such as cow manure. The results of methane combustion are CO2 and water, and while CO2 is a greenhouse gas, methane is over 20 times more potent.
We should all be very concerned about the added stress to the dogs for HAVING to continue pooping in order to keep the park lit. I hope they only take free range poop for this park. To show how much they really care. Woof.
Using this may not qualify the organic matter as free range poop. They should set up a committee to study the issue. Federally funded of course.
Oh God!.....See what you get when libtards are in charge?
It’s Cambridge. If the citizens want their tax money going for that, why not? If they don’t, believe me, they’ll let the city know about it.
Cambridge, Massachusetts — dreamed up by an “artist”. Thanks billorites.
LOL
Instead of “Green Jobs”, brown jobs?
‘like an “eternal flame”.’
Hahha!
[Neat idea, but the Eternal Flame of doggie doo?]
I am curious how the gummint will regulate this? You will need bacteria inspectors, health codes, safety standards, child safety [little darlin’ might want to put something in his mouth]. Oh boy, will this be fun.
Methane is also a potential fire hazard. Ah yes, very interesting.
Will Muslims be offended? (Hmmmm, I just came up with an upside.)
My first thought was 'look at the size of the two tanks to power one street lamp.' Second thought 'how many dogs does it take to keep one lamp lit?' Just think you could power your whole house if you kept 150 dogs and had two tanks each the size of your house.
“Just think you could power your whole house if you kept 150 dogs and had two tanks each the size of your house.”
ROFL! That’s a lot of poo!
How long until shelters start selling it?
Also is a lot of dog food. Biological systems are inefficient compared with more direct means of energy use. As mechanized agriculture took over in farming, farm employment fell; the amount of land under cultivation fell rapidly due to the lack of need to raise feed for the draft animals. Despite the biological inefficiency, use of draft animals for working the fields didn’t result in negative net production. The same kind of argument works in spades for biofuels, despite the claims to the contrary. Thanks Arthur Wildfire! March.
How long until someone blows the thing to smitherines with stray spark?
“How long until shelters start selling it?”
It will likely be a regulatory thing — bio-poop cannisters.
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