Today, many scientist believe emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are leading to unusually high warming of the atmosphere – global warming. The theory of global warming has gained international awareness and scrutiny, leading to a worldwide, concerted effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stated that the nation’s waste-to-energy plants produce electricity with “less environmental impact than almost any other source of electricity.”
When a ton of trash is delivered to a waste-to-energy plant, several things happen: the energy content of the waste is retrieved, metals are recovered and recycled and electricity is generated.
A U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA)-sponsored lifecycle analysis evaluated a variety of waste management options and their associated environmental and energy impacts, and found that waste-to-energy does the most to reduce greenhouse gas releases into the atmosphere.
EPA’s Municipal Solid Waste Decision Support Tool has demonstrated that a modern waste-to-energy plant provides for the avoidance of greenhouse gases through three different operations:
- For every megawatt of electricity generated through the combustion of solid waste, a megawatt of electricity from conventional, e.g., coal or oil-fired, power plants is avoided, creating a new savings of emissions of greenhouse gases, i.e., carbon dioxide.
- A modern municipal waste-to-energy facility separates ferrous and/or nonferrous metals for recycling.
- When a ton of solid waste is processed in a waste-to-energy facility, the methane that would have been generated if it were sent to a landfill is avoided. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, i.e., twenty-three times more potent than carbon dioxide.
You won’t believe where this is located. Right Next To Indian Point!! Let’s get more trash! Hey New York City. Send us your trash so it doesn’t sit in a landfill in Pennsylvania! Boom!
