Gaon street light/wastebasket eats trash, belches light.

The big cities of the world are often some of the prime locations to see breakthroughs in technology and gadgets tested. They are also one big trash bin. Why people can’t walk two more feet to the trash can to throw something away is beyond me. Apparently the ground looks better to them. To each his own.

It’s no secret that there is a ton of energy sitting, wasted in trash. Now we can’t just go on burning trash as that releases even more pollutants and toxic chemicals into the air. But there are other ways. Designer Haneum Lee has revealed his concept of the Gaon street light/wastebasket. The beauty of this device is that it is more or less looks just like any normal street lamp save for the added girth around the mid section. That girth is where the magic happens. The lamp turns biodegradable trash into methane gas. The gas is then used to light the lamp. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself. Sadly it’s just a concept for now.

There are a couple ways to make this design even better. (1) design the device so that all trash, not just biodegradable, is able to be used for energy. (2) Install a solar panel on top of the lamp and harvest some of those sun rays that are ever prevalent. One of these won’t make much of a difference. But imagine what an entire city fitted with these (solar panel add-on too) and connected to a smart grid could do? Ya, being green is cool.

Technabob > Dvice > Yanko Design

Author: Mike Norris

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Gadget lover, smartphone collector, and beer connoisseur. I've been writing about gadgets for three years now and loving every minute of it. Outside of the digital landscape, I enjoy being active outdoors. I'm always up for a good conversation, so feel free to drop me a line!