Park Spark Project Transforms Dog Waste into Energy
Anywhere people are walking dogs -- and throwing away dog poop -- can be a source of heat and light by introducing a methane digester into the equation.
The first-ever Park Spark project was installed in Cambridge, Mass., on Tudor Street, between Sidney Street and Brookline Street, a few blocks from MIT.
The Park Spark project transforms dog waste into energy (methane) through a publicly fed methane digester as an interactive urban intervention that questions our current waste system, and at the same time creates an opportunity for others to participate in the re-imaging of the byproduct energy.
The digester can be above-ground or buried underground except for a tube and a hand-crank, so that people can feed the digester and stir the mixture inside.
The methane captured by the Park Spark is piped to gas burning lamppost like an "eternal flame." This eternal flame will burn until someone or a group of people propose an idea to use the heat and light of the constantly burning flame and make a public project.