Green Mausoleum Displays Eco-Innovation

In Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain, solar panels have been affixed to mausoleums at a local cemetery in an effort to create renewable energy. According to the Associated Press, “Flat, open and sun-drenched land is so scarce in Santa Coloma that the graveyard was just about the only viable spot to move ahead with its solar energy program.” The 462 panels create an enormous amount of energy, “equivalent to the yearly use by 60 homes.” Officials made sure that the panels would not change the overall look or feel of the cemetery by installing them “at a low angle.”

Other schools, companies and inventors have taken unusual approaches to green living that could soon become mainstream. Universities, car manufacturers and entire neighborhoods have all made innovative green strides over the past couple of years.

At Utah’s Brigham Young University, leftover dining hall food is thrown into pulping machines, preparing the food to become compost and used for mulch throughout campus. According to BYU NewsNet, the mulch “process takes 90-120 days, but the result is mountain soil that uses one-third less water.” BYU also holds “zero-waste meals,” in which even the utensils are turned into compost.

The blog Web Urbanist reports on “green-thinking automotive designers,” and five of the most “radically creative green vehicles” that go beyond hybrid and energy-efficient technologies. For example, a car that uses a “nano-paper battery and solar absorbing nano-paint.”

The Travel Channel expands on green innovation with “Extreme Ways to Go Green,” which features international destinations that have taken green living to another level. For instance, near Taos, New Mexico, the Greater World Community has “earthship” houses constructed “from packed earth and tires” that derive all of their energy from sun and rain.