Re: [GreenYes] energy (and other) savings through recycling

[tomd <tomd@penn.com>]

Please excuse a lurker, but I felt I had to respond to part of this.
:
Gary Liss wrote:
> 
> Source: Deborah Orrill, CIWMB <dorrill@ciwmb.ca.gov>
 
(snip the good stuff)


> How might recycling help create energy?
> 
> ·        Recycling can help create energy by providing the raw materials we
> need to generate electricity.
> 
> ·        Some of the ways we can do that include converting methane gas
> from landfills to energy, transforming old tires into electricity at
> special plants, and using organic materials like wood chips and forestry
> and agriculture waste to fuel biomass plants that, in turn, generate
> electricity to power California homes and businesses.
> 
> ·        The Waste Board is looking at all of these possibilities and
> working closely with the Governor's Office to meet California's energy
> needs on all fronts.
> ****************************************************

This is NOT recycling. This is burning waste for fuel.

There are many concerns about these ideas, and we have a long way to go before
waste-to-energy become a safe and feasible idea.

For example, landfill gas is not just methane, and it's not the equivalent of
natural gas (which is not just methane either). Landfill gas may contain
highly variable amounts of all sorts of unknown and unpredictable gasses and
volatiles. This makes it very hard to design a clean and efficient burner.

Some folks say buring tires for fuel in specially designede burners may work
well, others say tires contain chlorinated organics, which makes burning them
highly problematic.

And I'm not sure what is meant by using wood chips, forestry  and ag waste to
fuel biomass plants. Does this mean burning the stuff (sounds inefficient), or
deriving other forms of fuel (methane, ethanol, etc.) and burning that?

Please don't trade one problem for another. 

Tom DiStefano