Some hobbyists have found out how to use heat from compost piles to warm up shower water. That’s great, because bacteria in compost piles thrive at high temperatures. As they break down organic matter, bacteria produce energy and often heat compost piles to temperatures in the 80s to 90s. Sunlight on dark material can accelerate the process. Unfortunately, this energy can be difficult to harvest, but apparently burying pipes in a decent sized compost pile can warm up about 5 gallons of water every 10 minutes:

Reduced energy bills and well-scrubbed Hippies - that’s a win-win situation!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Gardening Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.