Buried green with alkaline hydrolysis

The classification of clean green burial options is becoming more realistic for environmental awareness.

Next life: Fuel cells generate electricity from decomposing the user's body to charge the battery.(Photo: James Auger / Jimmy Loizeau / MoMA.org)

Do we often worry about retaining water solutions or stinking from cremation that will contaminate the earth after we die? There may be a more eco-friendly but somewhat creepy option - that is, the decomposition of the body in an alkaline solution .

The process that has been used to decompose animals and experimental models over the years is now being considered more seriously when applied to humans.

The so-called alkaline hydrolysis method used a steel cylindrical tube to decompose the body in lye with a temperature of 300 and 60 pounds of an inch. The result is a sterile and coffee-like solution with a consistent nature of engine oil - which can be safely dumped into sewers. Solid byproducts after decomposition are only a small amount of remaining bone that can be scattered scattered like cremation ash.

The idea of ​​decomposing human bodies into liquids seems to confuse many companies - according to BioSafe Engineering, which manufactures steel pipes, there are no funeral services at present. Where in the world provides this type of service.

In fact, a bill in New York legalized alkaline hydrolysis. However, a director of the funeral service is hoping to publish this 'burial' scientific method to the public. Chad Corbin - burial director in New Hampshire plans to operate a US $ 300,000 cylinder and proceed to collect necessary requirements - he plans to charge the same price as cremation.

At least one legislator considers the application of alkaline hydrolysis - that's State Rep. Barbara French, 81 - she said that 'I chose alkaline hydrolysis rather than cremation. When you cremated, you were cremated, I thought about it but it was only when I was dead. '

Alkaline hydrolysis is not the only option to make human burial a clean green issue.

As part of the 'AfterLife Project' project, James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau of the Royal College of Art have designed a micro fuel cell that uses services from decomposing bodies. Electricity generated from the decomposition process can be stored in rechargeable batteries, which can then be used to power a type of 'commemorative' electrical device. Soak up the energy of a beloved deceased - any device from a flashlight to vibrators. Designers say their idea is 'a technical intermediary that expresses feelings of life after death for those who are mentally or physically asked for'.

Carbon copies: The conversion of human cremated carbon into pencils

If you do not want to recharge the battery with what has been decomposed from your body, then there is another concept project that offers a new way to convert cremation into graphite - enough to provide a pencil for a lifetime. . Nadine Jarvis - a University of London researcher at Goldsmiths - devised a project called 'Carbon copies' - an unopened wooden box filled with pencils. The carbon from an average person's ash can be stereotyped into enough graphite for about 240 pencils, and the box also functions as a sharpener, filling the space used by pencil. used in a separate self-contained compartment.

Ignoring the field of design ideas, there are very few effective methods to make burial green. Meanwhile, the sarcophagus and crematoriums that could be destroyed with reasonable prices are becoming quite popular. So no matter how far away or practical, environmentally friendly burial is quickly becoming a practical option.