Europe plans to heat 6,500 homes and a school using crematorium heat

In 2011, Redditch Borough Council in England decided to experiment with something that hardly anyone in the UK had heard of before. Staff announced they were going to warm the local swimming pool with heat from a nearby crematorium.

What ensued was a public firestorm with the plan making international headlines and even gaining criticism locally. Eventually, the project proved to be one of the most thoughtful decisions, winning a green award.

Since 2013, the crematorium has warmed Redditch's swimming pool, as per a report by WIRED.European countries have been harvesting warmth from crematoriums for years. The total volume of heat available from the crematoriums is modest, but with an increasing search for ways of reducing the environmental impact of funeral rites, utilising this heat provides a way to lower their carbon intensity.Roughly 1,200 cremations are carried out every year in Redditch.