City keeps lights on by burning tons of old banknotes

A CITY in China is keeping its lights on at night using the power generated through burning truckloads of damaged banknotes.

This year alone over 1 800 tons of money with a value of almost 180 billion yuan (R393bn) has been incinerated to generate electricity in Yancheng City, Jiangsu province, according to The People’s Daily online.

The money burnt is the old 100 yuan red banknotes that are now being replaced nationwide with a new design.

Every month the Biomass Power incinerator turns about 30 tons of money mixed with straw into power.

On November 12, China released its 2015 addition of the fifth set of 100 yuan banknotes, all the notes from previous years will be shipped to Yancheng city and turned into power. The money is measured by weight, not by face value. Before it is sent to the incinerator it is shredded and bundled up into small balls.

Compared with other fuels like sawdust, the banknotes have a high-caloric value (a weightless gas that passes in and out of pores in solids and liquids) and a low water content, which is suitable for biomass power generation.

Not only is the money turned into power, the remaining ash is made into bricks, which ensures sustainable and harmless disposal, literally building houses with money-made walls.

China’s new banknote has been specially designed to make it harder to forge. – Daily Mail