Burning money - a novel way to generate electricity in China

In China, some people burn through money to generate happiness, others do so more literally to generate electricity.

A company in Luoyang City, central China's Henan Province, recently caught nationwide attention for burning used bank notes to generate electricity for the city.

One tonne of the damaged paper money can contribute to 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 (PBoC), the country's central bank.

A staff with the local PBoC branch told Xinhua it's a more efficient source of electricity.

"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," said a source with the branch.

The topic has brought heated discussion on microblog Sina Weibo, with many cracking jokes about the ordeal.

"Burning money? Luoyang is such a rich city!" read one comment.

Paper money no longer suitable for circulation is usually retrieved by commercial banks in China and handed to the PBoC for destruction. The residue is then given to appointed companies for further use, usually for paper-making. Luoyang marks China's first case where the money is used for electricity generation.