Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags Behind

[XemaSab]

HORSHOLM, Denmark — The lawyers and engineers who dwell in an elegant enclave here are at peace with the hulking neighbor just over the back fence: a vast energy plant that burns thousands of tons of household garbage and industrial waste, 24/7.

A new type of plant, located in the wealthy exurb of Hoersholm, Denmark, converts local trash into heat and electricity. The plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration.
Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago.

In that time, such plants have become both the mainstay of garbage disposal and a crucial fuel source across Denmark, from wealthy exurbs like Horsholm to Copenhagen’s downtown area. Their use has not only reduced the country’s energy costs and reliance on oil and gas, but also benefited the environment, diminishing the use of landfills and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration.

With all these innovations, Denmark now regards garbage as a clean alternative fuel rather than a smelly, unsightly problem. And the incinerators, known as waste-to-energy plants, have acquired considerable cachet as communities like Horsholm vie to have them built.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/science/earth/13trash.html?pagewanted=1&hp

[midnight]

1. I just love it. Garbage used as alternative fuel... No wonder they can afford

amazing health care and dignified care for the elderly.....

[Nihil]

2. Good move.

Just make sure you keep those filters up to spec or you will be
opening a whole can of pain. We've had an on/off battle with one
of the incinerators near us that was basically down to their less
than reliable maintenance of filters ...

(There again, I'm sure you could blame any unpleasant health issues
in the future on Chernobyl and post a few maps with random red areas
to keep the distraction going ...).

[Dead_Parrot]

3. I don't suppose *not* producing shitloads of trash is an option?

I'm not quite convinced that burning our shit to make energy that we can then use to make more shit (that we can then burn) is the sort of ecotopia I've been holding out for.

Yeah, I know. Call me Mr Grumpy. x(

[Nihil]

4. Well, Mr Grumpy, that depends on whether you consider "an option" to mean ...

... "a likely or realistic option" or simply "an idealistic,
fluffy kitten option" ...

I think the chance of the greater unwashed *not* producing
shitloads of trash through any means other than a) catastrophic
depopulation or b) lack of materials to manufacture said trash
is pretty damn small.

Not to say that it isn't a good personal goal but, in the meantime,
it's good to see that there are means of using up the crap from the
other 95%+ of the population.

:shrug:

[Dead_Parrot]

5. I want a kitten, dammit.

Actually, we could combine (a) and (b):

"Soylent green is people! And highly flammable! And a great feedstock for many household plastics..."

[wtmusic]

6. or c) expense of said materials to manufacture said trash

A stiff carbon tax might eliminate those box store multipacks of 16-oz bottled water, and have people using the same one over and over again. With reverse-osmosis tap water.

[groovedaddy]

7. Back in the early 90s our city was looking at doing this, heavily pushed by the mayor in conjunction

with Dupont (in Louisville). The mayor said the technology had all the kinks worked out of it and was working just fine in other cities. Our little environmental group had enough cash on hand to hire an engineering consultant to visit 4 of the cities where "everything was working just fine."
She found that there were a whole host of unsolved problems that our mayor had conveniently ignored or was just ignorant of (neither being acceptable). The findings of the consultant were used to convince the city council to vote this down. After the defeat, the mayor had a press conference where he proclaimed that some people in our city (us?) were just behind the times and didn't want progress. Jeesh - what an arrogant asshole!