Let There Be Light With The Gaon Trash Powered Street Lamp
One day, New York will no longer be dark and trashy. At least not if designer Haneum Lee has his way.
Lee has developed a promising new idea for lighting nighttime city streets by using discarded items as a power source for the Gaon Street Light - a lamppost powered completely by garbage.
The street lamp is still in the design phase, but does present some interesting concepts for meeting an everyday need while using an available, and often neglected, resource - garbage.
The street lamp features a trash can at its base, which is intended for use by foot traffic. As pedestrians toss their garbage into the can, it’s automatically composted. The methane from the compost is then used to power the lamp. Pretty neat, huh?
It’s a futuristic-looking contraption, kinda like a giant electric toothbrush. But that might actually attract the curious and encourage use. But even with the curiosity factor, there are some obvious hurdles to overcome before the Gaon Street Lamp can light up even one area of Gotham - any other city for that matter.
For instance, how is the trash sorted? What happens if non-compostables are thrown into the bin? How much garbage does it take to power the lamp for an entire night? All good questions.
Still, Lee has come up with one of the most interesting recycling ideas I’ve heard about. At the very least, it will get others thinking of ways to reuse trash to generate power for everyday needs. Who knows, composted waste might one day be able to partially power street lights on a regular basis. And that’s definitely worth hoping for.
Via Inhabitat.
Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.
GREENOP4188
