Money burning: "Worthless pieces of paper" can light up homes
The Centre would soon have a huge number of invalid notes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetized the Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes. The huge chunk of invalid currency - estimated to be around 23 billion notes - could be utilized to generate electricity, similar to what was done in China. In China, invalid/damaged notes were burnt to generate power in an efficient manner.
A pile 300 times the height of Mount Everest
In its report on 230 billion invalid notes, Bloomberg stated: "Stacked one on top of the other, the pile would be 300 times the height of Mount Everest. Laid down to form a pathway, it'd be long enough to reach the moon and back five-times."
Most invalid currency to be used in landfills
Even though the Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes in India are dead, they could still light up many homes. In China, the money burning trend began in 2014 in central Henan province's Luoyang city when a company started burning damaged notes to generate electricity. Most of India's invalid currency would reportedly be used in landfills or turned into biomass blocks - for industrial purposes.
Chinese official news agency Xinhua's report
"One tonne of the damaged paper money can contribute to the generation of 660-kilowatt hours of electricity, with reduced emissions when compared to coal, according to the company, which is authorized by the local branch of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank."
Large-scale money burning project launched in China
The money burning project in China was launched on a large scale when the Chinese Government had issued a new 100 Yuan note in Nov'15 gradually withdrawing old notes of the same denomination. At that time, Xinhua reported that people welcomed the new 100 Yuan banknote while its previous version headed for ashes. Billions worth of notes were burnt in east China's Jiangsu province.
1.32 million kWh of electricity annually
Xinhua report had said: "With Henan's current unused paper money counted, the company can help generate 1.32 million kWh of electricity annually, which is equal to burning 4,000 tonnes of coal."
No real loss involved in money burning
Contrary to popular belief, in burning paper money with negligible intrinsic value, no loss is involved as no real goods are destroyed; the overall wealth remains unaffected. The money is measured by weight and not by face value, which is advantageous. The ashes, after incineration, could be turned into knick-knacks or bricks and supplied to people who can build homes from money made walls.
