Waste-to-energy
Waste-to-energy isn’t just a trash disposal method. It’s a way to recover valuable resources. And when you think about it, “energy recovery” is really what “recycling” is all about – conserving resources by using them as efficiently as possible.
Here at Babcock & Wilcox Vølund, we’ve pioneered waste-to-energy technologies that have set the world’s standards for optimal recovery. We’d like to share our experience with you.
Mimimize leaching
Put trash in a landfill and it sits there, leaching heavy metals and generating gas. Convert it to energy and you can recover 2/3 of it as CO2-neutral fuel.
Landfills are actually expensive enterprises. They require special membranes to minimize leaching and special vents to allow methane and other decomposition gasses to escape. But burning waste in special facilities is one of the most robust and effective alternative energy options to reduce CO2 emissions and conserve fossil fuel resources.
Reduce methane emissions
Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. And our technology eliminates its emissions. In fact, only gas-fired power stations perform better than WtE plants – but only when generating electricity. Since most WtE plants also provide heat, this makes them the single most efficient energy source available when it comes to reducing fossil CO2.
Ensure cleaner air
Emissions from our waste-to-energy plants are healthier to breath than the air in some cities. In fact, according to the UK Environment Agency, 15 minutes of millennial fireworks celebrations in London produced more dioxin that would more than a century’s operation of the South East London Combined Heat and Power Waste-to-Energy facility!
But there’s a long way to go!
The Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP) notes that Europe currently treats 50 million tons of waste using waste-to-energy technology. That supplies enough electricity for 27 million people or heat for 13 million people. And since 50% of municipal waste across the EU is still landfilled, we actually have double the energy potential.
Don’t believe us? Here are our sources.
The facts you’ve just read are well documented. Here are just some of the sources you might want to examine:
The Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP)
http://www.cewep.com
Eunomia 2006: A changing climate for energy from waste: final report for Friends of the Earth,
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/changing_climate.pdf
German Ministry of Environment, The contribution of waste management to sustainable development in Germany
http://www.bmu.de
UK Environment Agency 2000, briefing note from the Associate parliamentary Sustainable Waste Group by Neil Carrigan and Prof. Chris Coggins.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Source: The California Energy Commission
http://www.energy.ca.gov/biomass/index.html
