DeCuba Waste to Energy Caribbean

8/14/2019 DeCuba Waste to Energy Caribbean

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Limits and Potential for Waste-to-Energy in

the Caribbean

ing. Kevin de Cuba, MSc.Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Division

Department of Sustainable DevelopmentOrganization of American States (OAS)

Re-Caribe 2008: 14th Annual Wider Caribbean Waste Management Conference,

Grenada, June 26th, 2008


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What is Waste?

Waste: Is a material component,

energy or substance that:

Is formed or disposed of asresult of industrial, service,

recreational and residentialhuman activities;

Has lost its value and/orfunctionality;

Affects negatively the naturalenvironment (directly/indirectly)that influences socio-economiclife.


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Waste Impact in the Caribbean

In 2008 total of 6,781,537garbage items were collected

from shoreline andunderwater sites in the wider

Caribbean region.

Almost 90 percent of thisamount was debris from

land based sources


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Landfills all over the

Caribbean are/have reachedtheir maximum capacity.

Sea and Coastal Areapollution leads to highimpediments on tourismdevelopment, public

health and ecologicalservices

Grand Cayman Island (2006)

US Virgin Islands


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Lack of enforcement ofproper control and

monitoring waste disposal

Improper planning andlandfill siting leading togroundwater pollutionand other environmental

problems


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Waste Management for SD

Proper Waste Management: Is integrating technical alternatives,incorporate other sectors of economy (cause/solution) toimprove the collection, treatment and disposal of waste.

Clean Environment leads to: preventing public health risk

preventing natural hazards risk improving aesthetically the urban surrounding; considerable reduction in investment needs for waste

water/solid waste disposal creation of environmental service companies (e.g.

recycling) all the above summing to ingredients for sustainable

development.


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Examples of Caribbean Energy

Rates (most expensive)

0.3095*227833.1VINLEC5,229117,848St. Vincent &

the Grenadines

0.30160*.10038.8GRENLEC5,57189, 703Grenada

0.4556413542922.0DOMLEC4,33378,000Dominica

0.30..20,046240

The Barbados

Light&Power

Company

Limited

13,605280,946Barbados

0.35100*.10061.4APUA^13,09269,108Antigua &

Barbuda

TotalHydroPetroleum

AverageElec.

Rate(US$/

kWh)

Primary Energy

consumption for

electricity production

(TJ)

Gen.

Capacity(MW)

Utility

GDP

(US$-

nominal)per cap.

Approx.

PopulationCountry

*Measured in Millions of kWh

^Antigua Island Only

Average electricity price in USA: 0.11 US$/kWh (2007)


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Energy for SD in the Caribbean

Two main factors are driving the demand for reliable and affordable

energy services for sustainable development

1) The continued net population growth, the need andincrease of economic activities where energy isindispensable and;

2) The ever increasing challenge for energy security due toexternal global fossil fuel market developments leadingto expensive petroleum derived fuels as jet fuel, diesel,fuel oil, or gasoline and increasing competition ofaccess to basic energy resources for power productionand transport fuels


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Waste and Energy

Waste is inexorably interlinked with Energy, because:

all products manufactured, required an amount ofbasic materials and energy to extract, manufactureand transport;

proper and responsible waste management anddisposal results in recovering large quantities ofmaterials or chemicals without losing their original

economic value in tandem with the highest possibleenergy recovery (in some cases expressed as energysavings).


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Possible Caribbean ambitions?

Reduce the total amount of waste generated

Materials/energy from waste should be used asefficient as possible Assess recycling possibilities

Reduce the amount of waste ending up in landfills Increase amount of biological treatment (e.g. composting)

Enhance quality of waste for waste-to-energy

Focus on increased energy output Minimizing the impact of waste on environment and

livelihood of our citizens


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What is Waste-to-Energy?

Waste-to-Energy: Is the overall

package of alternatives tocollect, treat and dispose ofwaste:

respecting the basic principles

of Integrated WasteManagement (Rs hierarchy) improving energy efficiency in

waste management practices;

generate cleaner andsustainable energy carriers as(by)-product of IWMS forsustainable development.

MSW Incineration plant in Vienna


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Why Waste-to-Energy for

Caribbean SIDS?

Waste-to-Energy: an interesting RE/EE alternative, because of:

need for reliable and affordable energy services;

need for increase in use of indigenous energy sources(waste) for energy security;

decades of use of landfills as the least cost option forsolid waste disposal leading to space disposal limits; large amounts of materials are not technically or

economically feasible to recycle / re-use (under Caribbean

SIDS context). increased environmental problems due to improper wastecollection, treatment & disposal (waste water, MSW, etc.)

possible generation of revenue streams for investments in

Waste Management systems


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Limits / Challenges to Waste-to-Energy

in the Caribbean (1)

Lack of reliable information on waste managementpractices applied in the Caribbean;

Lack of basic waste generation and composition data; Weak and/or lack of regulatory framework to improve

waste management performance;

Lack of policy and legal frameworks linking wastemanagement, environmental and energy issues;

Poor resources planning to enhance thesocioeconomic and environmental benefits fromwaste-to-energy.


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Limits / Challenges to Waste-to-Energy

in the Caribbean (2)

There is still a degree of public and political resistance towards

waste-to-energy (due to misconception of linking to WTE Plants);

No fiscal incentives to facilitate energy generation and energyefficiency from or within waste management systems;

The challenge of centralizing or decentralizing waste managementresponsibilities (example, the Bahamas);

The need for the identification of funding at the national; intraregional

and interregional levels;

The capital investment in waste-to-energy alternatives is consideredprohibitive for Caribbean nations.


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Addressing the Problem


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Potential Waste-to-Energy routes

Source: Imports, Tourism, Industry, Transport,

Commerce, Residential, Agriculture, Landfill, etc.

Type of Waste: MSW, Sewage water, Ship-

Generated waste, agricultural waste, wood waste,

etc.

Conversion route: digesting, composting,

incineration, co-generation, bio-chemical treatment,

chemo-physical extraction, etc.

Energy carrier or product: biogas, landfill gas,

heat, electricity, fertilizer, cellulosic ethanol, bio-oil,

desalinated water, etc.


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Sourcesreduction

and reuse

Recycling/composting

Combustion with energy recovery

Landfilling and incineration without energy recovery

Least cost option

Preferred

Waste Management Hierarchy


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Processing Waste as

Energy Source


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Thank you!

ing. Kevin de Cuba, MSc.Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Division

Department of Sustainable Development

Organization of American States (OAS)

E: [email protected]: +1-202-458-6467

DeCuba Waste to Energy Caribbean

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