The world’s first solar-powered crematorium is being built in the Indian state of Gujarat, and it will save about 660 pounds of firewood for each body cremated. A 540-square-foot solar dish will reflect the sun’s rays onto a specially built coffin, taking two to three hours to reduce a body to ashes. The dish cost nearly $24,000, but Deepak Gadhia of Gadhia Solar Energy Systems Ltd. said costs could be brought down if the crematoriums were manufactured on a commercial scale. Wolfgang Scheffler, who helped construct the crematorium, has already built the world’s largest solar cooker in India’s Rajasthan state.
