Monday, September 20, 2010

Using Pet Poop to Light Parks: This is for Real

This morning I came back from walking my dog in the park and found this interesting article posted on a local environmental listserv:

Pet Poop Fueling City Park Light, Sparks Conversation

Seems Matthew Mazzotta, an enterprising student from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has designed a device which uses the methane in dog waste to power a street light. How cool.

I envision these all over Montgomery County. We could put them near lighted tennis courts and ball fields, and along streets where lots of people walk their dogs.

Dog waste is a huge pollution problem in our watershed and in many other parts of the Chesapeake Bay region. Meanwhile, our budget has forced the county to offer ad sponsorship on portable toilets. This seems like a tidy solution to both problems.

How cool. How cool.

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