Title: [GreenYes] Questions about incineration vs. coal
A colleague has been asked to comment on approval of a permit to
re-start an incinerator. It is located at a refuse transfer station and
would be fed with yard waste and construction debris (no garbage). The
question is whether this is preferable to land-filling the construction
waste since the energy from the incinerator would reduce the load on the
local coal plant, reducing its emissions.
Comments are welcome, especially those that would allow us to trade-off
one kind of emissions from the other. Thanks!
My question was, with regard to the "eco" biomass incinerator. We're
concerned about the proposed permit allowing some amount of toxic
emissions from the plant, which would be a result of burning
construction waste as there is not enough true biomass materials to
provide fuel for its operation. I don't know what a good baseline is
for toxic emissions. The proposed plant would generate up to 25
Megawatts.
I realize that this would likely take a load off of the coal fired
plants in the area, so I'm wondering if, compared to coal, this
biomass/construction waste combination wouldn't be possibly better for
air quality, even if not ideal.
Of course, there are better solutions, such as wind power, but I'd
like to determine whether this isn't a "perfect is the enemy of the
good" type of situations.
Curt
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