Finally, we can find a useful purpose for the special packages that our dogs leave behind at the park. Pawnation’s got the scoop poop on a new experiment going on in a Cambridge, Massachusetts park that turns dog feces into power.
Using an on-site methane digester, dog feces is recycled into methane gas which is then piped into a street lamp. The lamp burns as long as dog walkers dump the poo into the digester and turn the hand crank to stir the mixture (nice visual, eh?).
Judging by the picture, that’s a pretty big container and process to power just one street lamp (they also have an underground version of the container). But the creator, Park Spark Project, says the “goal of this interactive project is to not only show how dog waste can be recycled into something practical, but to also spark ideas about other ways to use the heat and light created by the poop that had been filling up nearby trash cans.”
There are definitely a few parks in the Richmond District that could benefit from a system like this, especially the Mountain Lake Park dog run area. Imagine all the collecting that could occur in Golden Gate Park!
Would people would be better about cleaning up after their dogs if there was an end benefit?
What do you think? Would you like to see a system like this in your local park?
Sarah B.
Love the imagery of the restroom icons holding hands under the ambient glow of the PoopLamp, talk about mood lighting =)