Should the excess heat from cremation be recycled?

The energy from cremation can be harnessed for use in public buildings or houses. But what are the moral questions?Recycling the excess heat from cremation might not sound like the most obvious way to honour your loved ones, but for the environmentally aware, it could be a more efficient way to create energy.Dr John Troyer, deputy director of Bath University's Centre for Death and Society (CDAS), is currently grappling with some of the moral issues – such as whether the process is respectful to the dead – surrounding the process, which is known as heat capture.He has become a familiar presence at funeral services held at the city's Haycombe Crematorium. A sombre job, perhaps, yet crucial to his one-year research project, which is funded by the South West Regional Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund.Haycombe was among the first crematoria in the country to install expensive equipment that prevents...

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