[GreenYes] RE: [html][heur] [GreenYes] our solar soulmates don't get it!!

["Pete Pasterz" <PAPasterz@no.address>]

Carl Pope, the ED for the Sierra Club, has a blog.   He addressed this
ASES report on 1/31.   Here's my response:
 
 
"Carl, now I'm perplexed.  Why did SC join with ASES on announcing this
study, and pronouncing that it is now the official SC Global Warming
strategy. 
 
By including Municipal Solid Waste as "biomass, and advocating
gasification and stoker bed combustors, its recommendations appear to
contradict existing SC policy on Solid Waste, from 1992 particularly
accepting NO Incineration of MSW...not even the organic fraction.  This
ASES report does not even acknowledge the SC requirement for existing
incinerators that 60% of materials are reduced, reused, recycled, and
composted.  This stance on Incineration was reaffirmed as recently as
the 9/06 2006 Energy Resources Policy.
 
Recycling and Composting are well known now to save much more energy
than what can be recovered by incineration.  And, this magic "black box"
solution removes the incentive to recycle and reduce waste, and makes as
much sense as thinking that feeding landfills with organics is an
efficient way to produce methane gas for a fuel.
 
How can the Club reconcile these inconsistencies??  What SC Committees
were consulted to review this report before it was released?
 
Pete Pasterz, Member"
 
 
 
Pete Pasterz
Cabarrus County, NC

________________________________

From: GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On
Behalf Of Eric Lombardi
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 6:56 PM
To: Greenyes
Cc: dave@no.address
Subject: [html][heur] [GreenYes] our solar soulmates don't get it!!
Importance: Low



(this just in from GAIA)

A recent report by the American Solar Energy Society, and recognized by
the Sierra Club as their official roadmap to confronting global warming,
presents a biomass strategy that would displace real global warming
solutions such as recycling and composting by supporting the
incineration of municipal solid waste-including paper.  This could
undermine efforts to transform the pulp and paper industry, reduce paper
consumption, increase paper recycling, and protect forests.

The report can be found at: http://www.ases.org/climatechange/ 

Sierra Club's press release can be found at:
http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2007-01-31a.asp 

I have also pasted the text from the report that is of particular
concern at the bottom of this e-mail.

The report presents an expanded definition of "biomass" that includes
gasification incineration of municipal solid waste as a source of
renewable energy.  The data used in the study considers more than half
of U.S. municipal solid waste as eligible for biomass, including
materials that are currently recycled or composted such as paper,
cardboard, green waste, food waste and construction wood waste.
Further, the report makes no mention of recycling.  When the full life
cycle is considered, recycling is a far less greenhouse gas and energy
intensive approach than biomass incineration. 

 State and federal climate policy will be pivotal in determining the
fate of recycling and composting in the U.S.  Rather than support the
expansion of incinerators in U.S. communities, we must work to advance
policies that support more just and sustainable waste solutions that are
better for the climate than incineration and landfilling.

 Promote recycling, not incineration: 

*      Write a letter to the Sierra Club to let them know that you are
concerned about the impact of biomass incineration on paper recycling.
The Sierra Club has been an ally on many issues.  Please consider
including the points below: 

o        Biomass should not be defined to include incineration
(including gasification, pyrolysis, plasma and other incinerator
technologies) of valuable materials found in municipal solid waste such
as paper, cardboard, green waste, food waste and construction wood waste
because: 

 *         Classifying incineration as a source of renewable energy and
a solution to global warming undermines real global warming solutions
such as recycling and composting 

*         Recycling and composting of discarded materials contributes
far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than incineration

*         Recycling and composting materials conserves 3-5 times more
energy than incineration generates 

*         Incinerators are the most expensive and toxic approach to
dealing with municipal solid waste

 Of particular concern in the report is the following:

 "Urban Residues (Municipal Solid Waste [MSW])

Values for biomass in MSW were available for California at the county
level [21], and we obtained data for the remaining states (with the
exceptions of Alaska and Montana) from a recent survey of state solid
waste and recycling officials [25]. We calculated a value for annual per
capita MSW generation of 1.38 metric tons per person per year from the
data available for the 16 states. We applied this annual per capita
factor to the populations of Alaska and Montana to estimate their MSW
generation. We applied values for moisture content (30% wet basis) and
biogenic fraction of MSW (56%) to the MSW values to arrive at estimates
of biogenic dry matter in MSW for each state. This resource includes
only the biomass component of MSW and not the entire MSW stream. The
biomass component consists of paper and cardboard, green waste, food
waste, and construction wood waste, and specifically excludes plastics,
tires, and other non-biomass materials. We determined biomass in MSW
diverted from landfill by subtraction of disposal from generation."

 The report includes the following incineration technologies:

* Stoker and fluid bed combustors with steam generation and steam
turbines

* Gasification with applications to boiler steam generation and steam
turbines, combined cycle (gas turbine, heat recovery steam generator,
and steam turbine), or an ICE

  

Dave Ciplet

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)

Tel: 510.883.9490 ext. 102

Fax: 510.883.9493

dave@no.address

www.no-burn.org <http://www.no-burn.org/> 

 






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