Introduction: What is Electric Cremation?

Electric cremation is an eco-friendly service that has received more publicity recently. Electric cremation, also known as electric incineration, is similar to gas-powered cremation in that it employs a high-powered furnace and a retort into which the body is placed. The body is rolled into the heated chamber once the furnace has reached a specific temperature. 

How Electric Cremation Works

The electrical connections in the Electric Crematorium do not require special fittings, and a simple 220 Volt electrical outlet is all needed. The capacity of an electric cremation furnace is 54 kW. The electric heating coil is constructed of NICHROME 80/20 in the form of a 25 mm dia coil with terminal rods, and the entire furnace heating coil system (Coil holding brick wall) will be bonded to the side walls. Cremation takes approximately 60 to 90 minutes, depending on body size and other biological factors. The hazardous gas and other substances are piped out of the cremation chamber and cleaned by a venturi scrubber using water treatment before being discharged into the 100-foot-high chimney.

Benefits of Electric Cremation

The advantage of electric crematoriums is that we do not have to cut trees to obtain wood to burn/dispose of the bodies, and it does not take long to arrange for the wood and other last homage ingredients, as opposed to burning manually. There is also a cost-saving because there is no running around procuring, arranging woods, organising other items for the rituals of manual burning, saving energy, and so on.

Bangalore’s first Electric crematorium

 As everyone knows, Bangalore is one of the leading cities in technological advancements, which is one of the main reasons for applying eco-friendly energy sources for all kinds of activities. One such eco-friendly application of this venture is the Electric crematoriums in Bangalore. Bangalore’s first electric crematorium was started at Panathur in July 2017, after which other crematoriums also started following their initiative for a greener process. 

Conclusion: Why consider Electric cremation over Traditional wooden pyre

For one body, a traditional pyre requires 300-400 kg of firewood, 3 litres of kerosene (some prefer desi ghee), and 300-400 cow dung cakes. On the other hand, an electric cremation does not use wood and thus produces no gas emissions. The civic body provides free firewood and cow dung cakes to crematoriums, costing around Rs 1,900-2,100 for each cremation. The remainder of the costs—roughly Rs 1,000-2,000 more—must be borne by the deceased’s relatives.