Since the beginning of time, mankind has begged the question, ‘how can we get some use out of our dead?’ But every time we attempt to do something productive with our corpses, failure ensues. Soylent Green was too salty. Frankenstein’s monster was dangerous and unappreciative. So if the dead aren’t good enough to eat or to reanimate, then why do we even keep them around? Their lavish resting homes are creepy and take up good real estate. Their potential to rise and hunt us down to eat our brains is a concern of national security. But now, thanks to Spanish ingenuity, the age-old question of how we might profit from our dead may be answered at last.

Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a blue-collar town outside Barcelona, has installed 462 solar panels atop mausoleums at its cemetery, transforming the place of perpetual rest into a veritable energy mill that generates enough renewable power to satsfy the yearly energy demand of sixty homes.

At first, It wasn’t easy for city council members to convince residents that outfitting the coffins of their relatives with solar panels was a good idea. But they unleashed a successful public-awareness campaign that eventually convinced the public of the benefits.

The panels, which were erected at a low angle so as to be as unobtrusive as possible, have been well-receivd by the community and plans are in the works to put up more panels there – enough to triple the output of electricity.

[Via: Yahoo News]