Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Park Lamps Fueled by Dog Poop

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/09/22/park-lamps-fueled-dog-poop/

In Cambridge, Massachusettes, a local artist is looking at the good side of waste. In a Cambridge dog park, Matthew Mazzotta built a "Park Spark," or a poop converter. He used 2 steel 500 gallon oil tanks, spray painted gold, connected to a lamp to make his converter. Owners use biodegradable bags to pick up their dogs poop and put it in the tank. They then turn a handle to churn the waste mixed with water. The methane released from the waste is fed into the lamp and burned off. The inspiration for the idea came from Mazzotta's trip to India where people were using poop to cook food.

7 comments:

  1. Well this is certainly a revolutionary idea. Do you think that possibly in the future other types of waste can be converted?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Other types of waste that release methane probably could. If only this idea could catch on in other places...but you kind of need a dog park to do this, and willing participants.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think that is an amazing idea, and why hasn't it been thought of before?! It definitely is revolutionary, as Jimmy said, and i also hope more people across the world catch on to it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It has been tried before in San Francisco but there were concerns about health safety and if the structure was built stable enough. This is the first successful attempt in the US. Plenty of other countries use poop for fuel.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think in the US it's difficult because once people hear poop they pretty much don't want anything else to do with it. It's a great idea if people could be more open minded.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Im definitely agreeing with the posts saying this is a great idea. Super cool and sounds great, my only question is how does the methane affect the air in the environment around us? like does burning the methane have a positive, negative, or mutual affect? i read the article and it said something about it being a super potent green house gas but i didn't really understand it that well. Anyone want to explain?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Would the tanks emit any kind of odor?

    ReplyDelete