Anybody watch the Science channel’s new Ecopolis
six-part series? Segment two – this week – focused on waste
management options for a hypothetical mid-21st century “ecopolis.”
Overly dramatic, it set up false choice between four emerging waste management
systems: a) Singapore’s “ash islands”, in which ash
from its incinerators are contained; b) plasma-arc gasification; c) bio-char –
soil amendment made from burned organics/biomass; and, d) heat recovery from
sewage (not to be confused with biogas production via AD), which is being
attempted at Vancouver’s Olympic Village, and a couple of places in
Norway. The series sets up Daniel Kammen, from Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy
Laboratory (www.rael.berkeley.edu),
a member of the IPCC, as the arbiter of which technology “wins.”
In this case, it was bio-char; plasma-arc dismissed as too complex/impractical
for widespread adoption.
Interesting, but also pretty bizarre treatment of a complex
issue; totally ignored recycling, and certainly ZW.
Other comments from those of you that saw it?
Kendall Christiansen