WASTE TO ENERGY IS AWESOME!

I have enjoyed getting to learn more about waste to energy. As the population continues to grow we tend to see more waste being discarded throughout our earth. Being able to convert all this waste to energy is very beneficial. Throughout the semester I have talked about why waste to energy is important, who are main contributors to this method, if waste to energy is harmful to the environment, and the biggest companies that turn the waste to energy. I also mentioned Disney World and how all the wasted and thrown away food is turned into energy to power the park. 

I see more waste to energy facilities opening up in the future in America. Although, America hasn't completely been won over by this proposal I think that by year 2030 all of our non-hazardous will be used to created energy and power the homes of many Americans. Being able to use the waste as an energy resource will help solve our problems on foreign goods and lower our reliance on coal. 

There will always be waste on this earth as long as humans are living on it. Therefore, this means that waste will forever be a reliable source of fuel. 

We need to start creating more waste to energy plants across the U.S so that we can cut down that amount of land needed and generate energy at the same time. 

 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are all words we think about when talking about saving the world. I think that we should add RECOVER to those R's, after maximizing Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling, waste-to-energy facilities RECOVER energy from the remaining trash and generate substantial amounts of electricity.

IN THE END IT'S CLEAR TO SEE WHY WASTE TO ENERGY IS A GREAT OPTION:

1. They reduce the amount of organic material going to landfills, which in turn reduces methane emissions from landfills because methane is a potent greenhouse gas
2. They recover ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the waste stream for recycling, which is more energy efficient than mining virgin materials for the production of new metals
3. The electricity generated utilizing trash offsets electricity generated from fossil fuels
4. Only 10% by volume of the incoming waste is ultimately transported to an out-of-county landfill in the form of non-hazardous ash residue, which significantly reduces vehicle emissions.

AMERICA NEEDS TO FOLLOW IN SWEDEN'S FOOTSTEPS! 

Only 1 percent of Sweden's waste ends up in a landfill. Half of it is recycled and 49 percent of it is burned in waste to energy facilities! I am glad to see that Sweden is doing such a great job at taking advantage of this amazing invention. Although, everything we do has some sort of negative impact on the environment whether it be, CO2 or greenhouse gases, waste to energy plants are headed in the right direction! Hopefully in the future we will be able to establish better ways to make waste to energy even safer for the environment.

VIDEO TO WATCH:

http://youtu.be/D3WWjmDICn8

Disney World converts wasted food into energy

Disney World's biogas facility: a model for converting food waste into energy

Another place in the U.S. converting waste to energy is none other than Disney World. I found this to be very interesting and quite a genious idea. Millions of people visit the park every year When you think about all of the food that people throw away at the park, and all of the oil and grease they use to cool all of that delicious fried food this really just seems like it was a long time coming. 

This is the Harvest Power System at Magic Kingdom

The Harvest Power System is essentially a bunch of "digesters" that turn food waste and biosolids into biogas.

Below is a diagram of the anaerobic digesting facility in Orlanda, Florida.

This was really interesting to me and I am sure it was a very expensive inital cost, but this will be able to provide power to the park and its hotels for decades to come. Not only is food collected from the park, but area hotels and restaurants as well. 

The process seems pretty extensive, but even after it is seperated and treated the remaining solids can also be processed into fertilizer. All of the waste is being put to use and that is really a remarkably sustainable process they have developed. I would hope more places, even Six Flags over Texas would start doing this as well. 

The CEO of Harvest Power said it best, "This is our goal - pumpkins to power, waste to wealth."

CITED WORKS:

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/17/disney-world-biogas-food-waste-energy-clean-tech

Sweden Is A Success Factor When Its Comes To Waste To Energy!

Last Week, I talked about a local place in Tulsa Oklahoma that produces waste to energy. This week I found that Sweden is widely considered a waste to energy success story. 

International comparisons show that Sweden is the global leader in recovering energy from waste. 

99 percent of all household waste per person is converted into energy. 

Sweden has a long history of harnessing energy from waste. The first waste incineration plant with energy recovery opened over 100 years ago in 1904. In the late 1940's, following World War II, Sweden began to significantly expand its district-heating network, providing an outlet for waste to energy in the coming decades. In the 1970's, Sweden’s heavy dependency on oil left it extremely vulnerable to the oil shocks of the 1970's.

During this time Sweden introduced nuclear to its energy mix and reintroduced coal. It was also during this period that a major expansion of waste to energy plants began. In the 1980's coal once again started to become a major source of energy, but as Sweden has increasingly looked to be more environmentally friendly and less dependent on foreign sources of energy, it has turned to renewable sources such as bio fuels, wind 

and most importantly waste. 

Renewable energy has played a major role in Sweden’s push to become independent from fossil fuels. In 2005, Sweden’s government set a target of producing 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and achieving complete carbon neutrality by 2050.

From 1999 to 2010, waste incineration with energy recovery increased from 39 percent to account for 49 percent of the country’s waste treatment methods. In 2009, 2,173,000 tons of household waste and 2,497,830 tons of industrial or other waste were treated by incineration, with energy recovery at roughly 32 Swedish waste-to-energy facilities. 13.9 TWh of energy was 

produced through incineration, of which the equivalent of 12.3 TWh was used for heating 

and 1.6 TWh for electricity.

PUBLIC SUPPORT

Swedes are famous for their commitment to the environmental and their knowledge of 

environmental issues. In a 2010 poll, 87 percent of Swedes said they had personally 

taken action to reduce their C02 emissions the highest percentage among European 

countries. Although most Swedes prefer recycling to waste to energy, they are 

generally supportive of WTE as a waste disposal method as the number of plants has 

grown oven, and as regulations and technological advancements have decreased the 

emissions of Swedish WTE plants by over 90 percent since the 1980's.

In the United States, the commitment to the environment and climate change is not 

nearly as prevalent as Sweden. 

This year, a Gallup poll found that only 51 percent of Americans 

said they worry a great deal or fair amount about climate change. This combination of

less awareness and less environmental commitment means less public support for 

policies than you see in Sweden and other western European countries. 

Furthermore, 

the earlier, dirtier days of waste to energy in the United States created a negative 

perception of the WTE industry. 

Most Americans are relatively unaware of the 

environmental benefits that waste to energy offers, which creates and additional barrier 

for WTE proponents in the US to overcome.

VIDEOS TO WATCH:

http://vimeo.com/103801887

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_DGf77OhM

CITED WORKS:

http://www.cpmfg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waste-to-Energy-page.png

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Sweden-has-Run-out-of-Rubbish-for-Waste-to-Energy-Industry.html

http://www.avfallsverige.se/fileadmin/uploads/forbranning_eng.pdf

Covanta

Right here in the state of Oklahoma we have our own waste to energy facility. The companies name is Covanta and their facility is set up in Tulsa. Covanta is also known as the Walter B. Hall Resource Recovery Facility, which  is Covanta's first Energy-from-Waste project. Covanta  began commercial operation in October 1986 with two units. A third unit was later added to meet growing demands of the residents and businesses in the Tulsa area.

Operating as Covanta Tulsa Renewable Energy, LLC, the facility processes 1,125 tons-per-day of solid waste, generating up to 240,000 pounds-per-hour of steam. The steam can be used to power a turbine generator to produce 16.8 megawatts of clean, renewable energy that is sold to Public Service Company of Oklahoma. However, on a more regular basis, the steam is sold to Holly Frontier, Inc. which is an independent refiner, adjacent to the facility, and used in the refining process. This offsets the need for the refinery to use fossil fuels to generate their own steam.

Notably, Covanta Tulsa received the 2013 Bronze Excellence Award in the Waste-to-Energy category from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA.)

 In 2012 it was honored with  the Henry Bellmon Sustainability Award, a recognition created to raise awareness and reward those people, agencies, organizations, or companies that dedicate themselves to a balanced approach toward quality of life for all, responsible economic growth, and environmental stewardship

It is really exciting to know that this company is dedicated into making a more sustainable world. They have even developed a community outreach program to get the word out. I have scheduled a tour to go visit their facility in two weeks. I can't wait to go so I can see firsthand how this stuff really works. It would also be a great place to work once I graduate next semester, so I applied to work there, hopefully they will call me back!

Facility Address:

2122 S. Yukon Ave
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74107

Site:

22 acres owned by Covanta Tulsa Renewable Energy, LLC

Commercial Operation:

1986

Energy-from-Waste System:

Two 375 ton-per-day Martin Gmbh inclined and horizontal grates, one Sangfeng platform, all three units have water wall furnaces

Boiler Design:

Zurn manufactured 824 pounds per square inch gauge (psig)/700°F superheater outlet conditions

Air pollution control equipment:

Aqueous ammonia injection, activated carbon injection with lime slurry injection, followed by fabric filter baghouse for fly ash collection.

Rated Refuse Capacity:

1,125 tons-per-day or 410,625 tons-per-year

Energy Generation at Rated Capacity:

16.8 megawatts of electricity

Sold to:

American Electric and Power/Public Service Company of Oklahoma

Cited Works:

https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-1/p160x160/1546229_10152759167046953_256167105_n.jpg?oh=b17888a489680a6c3ca13fa260e0a125&oe=54F46344&__gda__=1424864868_b071f6805964abe19b6019f468d007a7

http://www.covanta.com/facilities/facility-by-location/tulsa/community-outreach.aspx

http://www.covanta.com/~/media/US-site/Facilities/Covanta%20Plymouth_Tipping%20Floor%20with%20TS%20waste%20truck.ashx

Social Construction of Nature

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF NATURE

Nature is subjective to each society, and for two individuals, nature will not conjure the same ideas as man. 

Social Construction of Nature and the Environment demonstrates how our understanding of nature and of human relationships with the environment are really cultural expressions used to define who we were, who we are, and who we hope to be at this place and in this space. Humans are not separate from nature, but we use nature to form interpretations of ourselves, our place within nature, as well as of nature itself.

                                                    

Nature is something that exists independently of the human race. In fact, nature would be better off if the human race didn't exist. Human actions are the reason nature is so distraught. In order to create these interpretations of ourselves we must use different products. 

Most of these products turn into waste ever time, which forces us to find a place to dispose of it all. We could take the normal route where the waste is buried or we can take advantage of this waste and turn it into energy. 

This human environment relationship will be ever living therefore we must take care of our world because it is the most precious thing life has to offer us. 

The good always comes with bad. While burning trash for energy is very beneficial to the human race it still manages to do some harm to the environment. 

              

DISADVANTAGES:

EXPENSIVE: Creating the waste to energy plants are very expensive. Setting up new recycling units involves high cost. This huge cost can come up as a part of acquiring different utility vehicles, upgrading the processing facility, educating residents by organizing seminars and other programs, disposing of existing waste and chemicals. The trash has to be pre-sorted as well to make sure only certain trash materials are being burned for energy which means there will have to be more workers. 

HARMFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT: All of the inorganics contained in the waste come out as ash, which contains char and tars. The amount of inorganics can be as much as 25% by weight which means that landfills will continue to be required to dispose of the ash. The ash has very little use except as a road base because even though it is considered non-hazardous it still has an environmental impact and very few people will use it. Dioxins are produced in the treatment and is a cancer forming chemical.

REQUIRES MORE LAND: Combustion of biomass products require some land where they can easily be burnt. Since, it produces gases like methane in atmosphere; therefore it can be produced in those areas which are quite far from residential homes.

Understanding the impact of recycling is essential on a large-scale. If waste to energy is done effectively it can bring in massive positive results, I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These are all things that have to be carefully considered and weighed when determining if waste to energy is a good alternative energy source.

PhotoCredit: http://protectearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/saveenergy.jpg

WASTE TO ENERGY PROCESS

While many people think its better to have their waste buried I think that we should put it to good use instead by using it to produce reliable renewable energy. Using this energy source to power homes and businesses  takes less stress off of other fossil fuels such as coal oil and gas. This means we can have less mining, less drilling and less reliance on foreign imports.

This week I am going to explain the process of how waste to energy works.
 First, the municipal waste is delivered to facilities where it is stored in a bunker.
The waste is then transferred to a combustion chamber where the trash is burned.  The heat released from burning is used to convert water to steam. The steam drives a turbine that generates the electricity. Once these steps take place the electricity is then distributed to the local grid.

The ash that is made from the combustion is processed to extract metal for recycling. The ash is usually disposed of into a monofill which only recieves this type of waste. All the gases are collected throughout the process where they are cleaned and filtered before they are emitted into the atmosphere. The type of filter that is normally used to control emissions from particulate matter is a baghouse which is a fabric filter. The people who work with waste to energy operations must follow the code compliances to make sure that this type of renewable energy remains suitable for our environment.