Description
Discover the methods, technologies, and economic expectations of converting waste into usable energy.
Renewable forms of energy are a hot topic in the US as they help reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from coal power and supply energy to the growing electric demand for such things as electric cars and data centers. WastetoEnergy (WTE) plants became an option in 1980s and continued into the 90s in North America but with how expensive they were and some initial issues, they have not become a staple of handling waste like has occurred in Europe. The outlook for old massburn WTE in the US is bleak with most current facilities being over 30 years old and many are being shut down due to costs of upgrading and limited support. There is also vigorous opposition from many groups with most thermal conversions of waste or materials from waste are opposed by a lot of groups, including the EPA. Most Zero Waste programs also dont recognize or limit WTE as an outlet for zerowaste.
This presentation will provide an overview of the evolution of WTE since the 1980s, discuss the facilities currently operating and some that recently closed. It will also discuss the composition of (mostly) residential Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), what can currently be recycled and some of the potential recycling possibilities in the near future. Technologies that are being advanced to possibly use other MSW materials in a circular manner or to create renewable fuels to be used in a variety of ways will also be presented.
Date: 2024-07-24 Start Time: 1:00 PM ET End Time: 2:05 PM ET
Learning Objectives
* You will be able to define what constitutes wastetoenergy in the US.
* You will be able to describe some of the issues facing renewable energy from waste.
* You will be able to discuss the difficulties of recovering recyclables and achieving circularity from MSW.
* You will be able to identify promising technologies in creating renewable energy and fuels from portions of MSW.