Everyone is looking for more efficient ways to create energy. Some or turning to wind energy, others to solar power and then there are efforts to harness the tidal movements of the ocean to create usable energy. A new proposal has come about in England that is rather ingenius, if not disturbing for some. See, crematorians need a lot of energy. So, someone came up with the bright idea to capture the heat used to burn human bodies and use it to generate electricity. Not sure how that would fit into Cap and Trade.

In Australia, not everyone is eager to be cremated but instead prefer to find eternal peace. But laying everyone rest takes up a lot of space. Even though has a huge plot of land in Western Australia that is basically unhibatable, there is a shortage of space for cemeteries. An Australian company has come up with a great idea. Why not bury people standing upright? Not exactly the restful position envisioned by most people, but the entrepreneur is taking an additional approach. Not only does it save space, but it also will help save the planet. He says that by simply drilling a 9 and a half foot deep, 30 inch wide hole and sticking gramps in the hole in a biodegradable bag, then the entire process is Green because it produces less carbon dioxide. How? No casket. One guy already took it one step farther. He asked that he be left standing at his own wake. He died and stood for three days to greet all of his visitors.

Perhaps that is not high tech enough for you. I mean, we are in the 21st century. And a Swedish company agrees. Instead of cremation or burial (vertically or horizontally) they have a better idea. How about freeze dried? Using liquid Nitrogen, dead bodies are frozen and then broken into bits so small it creates a powder…sorta like a fine slushy. But, they use a vacuum process to remove all moisture and then a filter to remove any excess metals..you know…in case gramps had a pace maker or fillings. And, there you go…ashes to ashes dust to dust. The company suggests that you can put gramps’ powder on the grave to take advantage of all of the nutrients. Hey, why not package it and sell it as fertilizer? I guess that grave that have plants growing the biggest and brightest is the ultimate proof that the person really was full of manure.

But like all new things, alternative burials can create unintended consequences. It seems that in the region near the India-Nepal border, for many years there have been ritual burials in which a body is burned to some degree and then the burned bodies or remains are tossed into the Great Kali River. It seems that the river has a type of catfish called a “goonch” that regularly dines on the human remains. Legend has it that there is a large creature that prefers humans that are alive and a researcher has determined that the legend is real and that the predator is a giant “goonch” catfish that has gotten fat over the years from being fed the dead. The conclusion is that through encouragement, the local customs have created a giant man eating fish. He is suggesting that locals start using the more “ecofriendly” method of burial at sea.

Weather Bottom Line: Today is going to be pretty lousy. Oh, the rain is out of the picture for the morning; but the wind and falling temperatures will be the issue. Overnight we had wind gusts to 46 mph in Louisville and the temperature climbed to 58 degrees at 4AM. By 9AM we had lost 10 degrees from that high and the main push of cold air will be pushing in by afternoon. Don’t be surprised to see below freezing temperatures by your drive home from work. Winds will generally be 20-40 mph with perhaps higher gusts but I doubt if anyone will hit the ballyhooed 60 mph. The waves on the river should be pretty good by late morning with a westerly component to the wind. As the wind shifts more northwesterly by late day, the waves should back off somewhat. Maybe some wrap around flurries late Wednesday since the cold air will be trying to squeeze out whatever moisture that it can. Still think we won’t get out of the 20’s on Thursday. There is another system that comes out of the west for the weekend that seems to me may begin as snow but warm air should surge northward and then it would turn to rain.