Crematoriums in Sweden found a sustainable way to cut costs and be environmentally-friendly. After cremating a body, they will be reusing the exhaust produced to keep their building warm, instead of releasing it out into the air. They are also planning to expand and use the energy for homes as well, making them a crematorium power station. It's a controversial idea but certainly not a bad one (for me at least!).
Aside from human corpses, they have also turned on stray rabbits as energy source. These animals overpopulate some their parks and destroy plants and trees. Thousands are killed each year. So what they do is they bring these dead rabbits to a heating plant to be cremated. The heat is then redirected to the homes in Värmland, Sweden.
Aside from rabbits, other animal carcasses and wastes are used to produce energy. They call this fuel, Biomal. Here's a simple chart I got from treehugger that shows the process:
From Biomal.com: "..The raw material is just crushed and grinded and then pumped to a fluidised bed boiler where it is co-combusted together with a base fuel such as wood chips, peat or municipal waste. Energy is recovered from the animal by-products by producing renewable heat and electricity and the net outcome of energy is considerably increased."
Recently, Taiwan also adopted the cremation idea. Instead of heating though, Taipei Mortuary Services Office will be using it to power the air-conditioning system of their receiving area and possibly the lighting system of their building.
Sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/cremated-bodies-to-power-aircon-in-taiwan-1801115.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/cow-carcasses-heat-swedish-homes.php
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,654916,00.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2156917/posts
I had to go to several places that day so it was a big help to me. Everywhere I went they had the flag displayed. Interesting fact: Because of its design, only the Philippine flag, when raised upside down (red over blue stripe), can function as a distress signal or an indication that we're in a state of war.
Flags are fascinating. There's so much history and meaning behind them. Take the flag of Mozambique, the only one in the world that features a modern weapon, an AK-47.It represents defense and vigilance, which is possibly a reflection of the 15-year civil war in the country that started in 1977 and ended in 1992.
The one flag that intrigues me is Nepal's. I read that the reason for its shape is because it symbolizes the Himalaya Mountains and a Pagoda-- put a mirror next to it and you'll see.
When I was in school, we celebrated United Nations Day by creating flags, one country per class, one flag per student. Afterwards, we displayed them outside the classroom. I remember wishing that we'd get Japan or Libya so it would be easy to make, just get a green art paper and that's it! Now, I know that the reason behind the color green is Libya's devotion to Islam, which has green as its traditional color.
Japan's red disc is the sun, a common Japanese symbol that started during the time of daimyos and samurais, and it is also believed that the imperial throne originated from Amaterasu, the sun goddess.