This article was first published in the September 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
This eerie light is produced naturally by bioluminescent bacteria that feed off an unusual source: cowpats. They are part of an installation at the newly opened Museo della Merda (the Shit Museum), run by Italian cheese farmer Gianantonio Locatelli, to celebrate the power of dung. The museum is housed in a small castle on the grounds of Locatelli's farm in Castelbosco, northern Italy, which is heated using energy from harvested methane. Installations in the nine rooms reflect the idea that waste can be transformed into something worthwhile, from old medical remedies that used excrement to a hut built out of dung bricks. "Our main idea is that from shit, though a very lowly existing material, it is possible to obtain so many things," says Locatelli.
The idea came to Locatelli when he realised his 2,500 cows produce 150 tonnes of organic waste every day, and it was a challenge to get rid of it. So he decided to turn his farm into an industrial factory. Using eight anaerobic digesters, he extracts methane from the manure, which is then transformed into enough energy to power the farm several times over. "But biogas only represents ten per cent of all the material that comes out of the digesters," says Locatelli. The solids are converted into two types of fertiliser and the leftovers turned into bricks that are sturdy enough to be used in construction. The future of waste looks bright.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
