Op-Ed Piece Touts Waste-to-Energy Benefits

The writer of a guest column in the Christian Science Monitor, who is an author living in Virginia, singles out waste-to-energy as a favorable method for the United States to provide more of its own energy from domestic resources.

In the article, published on Feb. 1, 2010, author Joe David of Warrenton, Va., writes, “The United States doesn’t need to create radioactive facilities for generating energy. Such a solution is right under our nose. It’s one that doesn’t depend on high-voltage electric lines; won’t reduce the food supply like corn ethanol and soybean diesel; and isn’t unreliable like solar, hydro, and wind energy sources. The solution to our energy independence is in our garbage cans.”

David comments upon the efforts of waste-to-energy technology companies such as IST Energy, Waltham, Mass., and the Plasco Energy Group, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, writing, “new incinerator plants don’t require filthy smokestacks that pollute the environment. Instead they create heat in oxygen-starved containers, which turbines or generators convert into electricity and diesel. As a result, minimum unhealthy emissions are being released into the environment during the conversion process.”

David does not provide a comprehensive statistical look at how much energy can be produced from solid waste, but says that it in his own city of Warrenton, Va., “By burning 250 tons a day of commercial and residential waste, [the mayor] believes he will be able to power 60 percent of all the homes and buildings, and provide bio-fuel for the school buses and public safety vehicles.”

He adds, “By each of us implementing waste-to-energy projects in our community, together we could significantly make a difference. These projects can be as small as an apartment complex or as large as an entire community.”

The text of Joe David’s column on the topic can be found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/277114.