City lights

Spain city sets up solar cemetery

Solar panels are carefully angled to make them less obtrusive to families A Spanish city has found an unusual place to generate renewable energy - the local cemetery. Santa Coloma de Gramanet, near Barcelona, has placed 462 solar panels over its multi-storey mausoleums. Officials say the scheme was initially greeted with derision, but families who use the cemetery eventually supported the idea following a public campaign. There are now plans to erect more panels at the cemetery and triple the amount of electricity generated. The cemetery was chosen for the project because it is one of only a few open, sunny places in the crowded city, which has a population of 124,000 crammed into 4 sq km (1.5 sq miles). The installation cost 720,000 euros (£608,000) but will keep about 62 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year, said Esteve Serret, a director of Conste-Live Energy, the company that runs the cemetery and also works in renewable energy. "The best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations," he said.