8/16/2019 Does Burning Garbage to Produce Electricity Make Sense

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Does Burning Garbage to Produce Electricity Make Sense?

Such incinerators are making progress in the U.S. but critics remain

August 26, 2011 |By Julia yper an! "limate#ire

Ofce o the Governor o Virginia

$rom the si!e%alk there&s almost no e'i!ence that behin! the %alls o( the

energy)(rom)%aste plant in Ale*an!ria, +a., an incinerator is burning garbage atmore than 1,00 !egrees $ahrenheit an! pro'i!ing electricity to thousan!s o(

homes.

-'erything that the resi!ent puts out on the street in a trash can comes here,-

sai! Bryan /onnelly, the (acility manager. At his location, that amounts to about0,000 tons o( municipal %aste per year.

 he plant, built in 1344, processes garbage (rom all o( Ale*an!ria an! Arlington,

+a., an! some parts o( the /istrict o( "olumbia an! 5arylan!. eat (rom the

high)temperature incineration o( %aste, %hich company representati'es call a-clean burn,- runs a generator that puts 2 mega%atts o( electricity back on the

gri! )) enough to po%er 20,000 homes.

 he (acility is o%ne! an! operate! by "o'anta nergy "orp., one o( the lea!ersin con'erting soli! %aste into energy, %ith 71 plants in 8orth America. 9na'erage, the company pro!uces 0 to 0 kilo%att)hours o( electricity per ton

o( %aste, sai! "hie( Sustainability 9:cer aul ;ilman. #hile the po%er comes(rom burning garbage, there&s a big !i<erence bet%een a tra!itional incinerator

an! %hat "o'anta !oes, he sai! )) -%e&re a po%er plant.-

-#e ha'e the same %aste hierarchy as the .U.= re!uce, reuse, recycle, energy

reco'ery an! !isposal,- sai! ;ilman. ->his? is that step %e call the &(ourth @.&

A(ter you re!uce, reuse an! recycle that, you take the step o( energy reco'erybe(ore you put it in the groun!.-

 o make sure the energy is generate! cleanly, "o'anta says, there are a numbero( high)tech pollution controls in place. hat inclu!es a baghouse to capture

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particulate matter such as mercury, carbon inCections to absorb hea'y metals,!io*ins an! (urans, an! the a!!ition o( lime to neutraliDe aci! gases. "omputer

systems closely monitor pollutant le'els to make sure they remain as lo% as

possible.

But some communities an! en'ironmentalists Euestion %hether those measuresare enough, %hile %aste)to)energy (acilities are reCecte! in places %here it is still

more economical to sen! %aste to lan!Flls. here are also concerns o'er harm(ul

greenhouse gas emissions, the sustainability o( energy reco'ery plants an!%hether or not they inhibit recycling e<orts.

5any o( these %orries %ere e*presse! in public comment submissions last %eekin response to "o'anta&s petition to ha'e energy (rom %aste inclu!e! in the main

tier o( 8e% Gork state&s rene%able port(olio stan!ar! @S. 9pponents saylabeling %aste as a rene%able energy source %ill take !ollars a%ay (rom proCects

like %in! an! solar. Some claim the action also !etracts (rom the larger issue ))

that there nee!s to be more recycling an! less %aste to begin %ith.

How to turn trash into energy and ofset emissions

 here are currently 46 %aste)to)energy (acilities in the Unite! States. Accor!ing

to the nergy @eco'ery "ouncil, they pro'i!e 2,00 5# o( clean electricity on a

27)hour)per)!ay, 6)!ay)per)year basis )) enough to po%er about 2 millionhomes.

Hn urope there are more than 700 o( these (acilities. Another 00 (acilities, many

o( %hich are in "hina an! Japan, are locate! aroun! the %orl!, in 70 countries in

total.

 he %ay the system %orks is this= A !ump truck !rops the municipal %aste into a

%arehouse)siDe! pit. hen a giant cla% much like one that picks up loot in anarca!e game grabs nearly a truckloa! o( garbage an! !umps it into an

incinerator.

 echnology !e'elope! in urope mi*es the %aste at temperatures o( up to 2,000

!egrees $ahrenheit. he heat then makes steam, %hich runs a turbine an!pro!uces electricity.

5etals are separate!. "o'anta claims to recycle 700,000 tons o( metal per year.

Ie(to'er ash, no% a cement)like pro!uct, is carte! o< to line lan!Flls.

 o!ay&s incinerators pollute less because o( U.S. A&s strict ma*imum a'ailable

control technology 5A" regulations, sai! 8icholas hemelis, a "olumbiaUni'ersity pro(essor o( engineering an! %aste)to)energy researcher. he 5A"

stan!ar!s (orce! companies to intro!uce scrubbing technology. Accor!ing to

"o'anta, its technology per(orms 60 to 40 percent better than reEuire! un!erthe 5A" stan!ar!.

Hn a 200 memo, A compare! the in!ustry&s emissions per(ormance (or maCor

pollutants bet%een 1330 an! 200. he report (oun! a 27 percent !ecrease in

nitrogen o*i!e, an 44 percent !rop in sul(ur !io*i!e an! a !ecrease in !io*ins an!mercury o( 33 percent an! 36 percent, respecti'ely, o'er the time perio!.

But "o'anta&s ;ilman sai! the real sa'ings are in re!ucing lan!Fll methaneemissions. $or e'ery ton o( %aste that goes through the (acility, he conten!s, a

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ton o( greenhouse gas emissions is a'oi!e!. %o)thir!s o( the incinerate!material is biomass. he remaining one)thir! is essentially a (ossil (uel.

"arbon sa'ings come (rom the o<setting o( methane emissions that %oul! ha'ebeen release! i( the ton o( %aste ha! gone to a lan!Fll. 5ethane is 21 percent

more potent as a global %armer than carbon !io*i!e.

 hemelis sai! emissions re!uctions are probably a little lo%er than %hat the

company suggests.

Base! on these re!uctions, a stu!y publishe! in the Cournal Waste Management

& Research !etermine! that municipal soli! %aste constitute! a -stabiliDation%e!ge- that coul! mitigate atmospheric concentrations o( greenhouse gases.

Authors sai! that i( global %aste %as manage! as it is in many parts o( urope ))more recycling, use o( the %aste)to)energy process an! the limite! use o(

lan!Flls )) it %oul! re!uce greenhouse emissions by 1 billion tonnes per year.

9ne researcher on the paper %as a "o'anta employee, ho%e'er, an! not all

analyses o( %aste)to)energy proCects ha'e painte! such a positi'e picture.

Emissions improements !uestioned

"o'anta has applie! (or main)tier status in 8e% Gork&s @S, a program toincrease the state&s rene%able energy capacity to 0 percent by 201. he

theory is that energy (rom %aste pro'i!es reliable baseloa! energy an!signiFcant greenhouse gas re!uctions.

8e% Gork alrea!y classiFes -%astes- as rene%able resources, but becoming parto( the state&s rene%able port(olio %oul! make "o'anta eligible (or ratepayer

(un!ing. Iast $ri!ay, the comment perio! close! on "o'anta&s petition.

Iaura aight, senior en'ironmental associate at 8e% Gork ublic Hnterest

@esearch ;roup 8GH@;, says that i( the petition passes, %aste %ill takeincenti'es a%ay (rom more sustainable technologies like %in! an! solar. She also

says that presenting the issue as though incineration o<sets lan!Fll emissions is

the %rong approach.

-Hn (raming this %hole !ebate as incineration 'ersus lan!Flls, they&re pushing thenee!le back 20 years,- sai! aight. -%enty years ago, people use! to say %e

nee! to !o more recycling no% %e&re talking about more burying or burning. 8o,

%e nee! to be !oing more recycling.-

aight points out that more energy is sa'e! by reusing materials instea! o(!estroying them. Also, rather than being burne!, biomass coul! be composte!

an! use! (or energy reco'ery, she sai!.

#hile not taking a !irect stance on the petition, the 8e% Gork State /epartment

o( n'ironmental "onser'ation /" also presente! some concerns. he /"%rote in its comments that "o'anta %as !enie! entry to the @S in 2007

because in the year 2000, mercury emissions (rom %aste)to)energy (acilities in

8e% Gork %ere an a'erage o( si* times higher than coal.

 he report also (oun! %aste)to)energy (acilities -continue to emit most air

pollutants at emission rates that are greater than coal)Fre! po%er plants on a

per mega%att)hour 5#h basis.-

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-his is a big issue here in 8e% Gork,- sai! aight. -hey&re seeking to beinclu!e! as a clean energy source, so %e nee! to push har! on the issue o( the

emissions. 'en though they ha'e impro'e! o'er the years, that !oesn&t mean

they shoul! be consi!ere! clean energy.-

Iast %eek, "o'anta recei'e! the go)ahea! to start buil!ing a "K20 million plantin "larington, 9ntario, %here o:cials ha'e sai! they see the proCect as a

sustainable %ay to manage %aste.

Reprinted rom Climatewire with permission rom Environment & Energy

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