Dog poop powers park lights

674X281 S V Spark Poo

Dog poop powers park lights… This could power all of NYC (lots of dog poop around here)…

Conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta is using dog faeces to power lampposts in a park in the US city of Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mazzotta’s Project Park Spark, which was funded through MIT and created in partnership with the City of Cambridge, comprises of a special “methane digester” which converts freshly scooped poop into methane.

Dog owners collect their dog waste in a special biodegradable bag and throw it into the digester – an air-tight cylindrical container, where the dog faeces are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. A byproduct from that process is methane which can then be released through a valve and burnt as fuel. In this case it is being used to power an old-fashioned gas-burning lamppost in a park.

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1 Comment

  1. zool
    September 16, 2010 at 12:16 am

    just reading ‘dog poop powers park lights’ makes me lol

    but it is a good idea

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Filed under: art — by adafruit

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