Summary:
The mayor of New York City has added waste-to-electricity technologies to his environmental agenda. This technology has become very popular in Europe but is not very common yet in the United States. The hope is that burning waste will help reduce the amount of space needed for landfills and reduce the cost of transporting it. The city is planning on using two specific methods, anaerobic digestion and thermal processing. This will turn solid waste into either electricity or fuel that can be used to create electricity. Some people argue that this system will be a positive step toward a more environmentally friendly way of creating energy. It is said that fewer greenhouse gases are created from the burning of trash than from the current methods used to dispose of it. However, many say that the focus of the NYC Sanitation Department should be on improving the city's 20% recycling rate. Overall, the waste-to-electricty technologies create a win-win situation, trash is being disposed of and a cleaner type of energy is being produced. The above image is a picture of a landfill. It is absolutely horrible and disgusting, something needs to be done to lower the amount of these in our country.Reflection:
This article looked really interesting to me because I think this is probably one of the best alternative energy sources. It makes so much sense, you can get rid of your trash and create electricity! At sometime or another we are going to begin running out of room for landfills and have to find a different way to dispose of our waste, and what better way to do it? Not only are we getting rid of the garbage, we are benefitting from it too! I also thought this article was good because we discussed it in class last week. This article makes it seem like burning trash doesn't create a lot of air pollution but there must be some harmful chemicals produced by it. However, if it's cleaner than fossil fuels then it's a step in the right direction. I think waste-to-electricity technology is a great idea and i hope to see it become much more popular in our country in the near future.
Questions:
- What is your opinion on waste-to-electricity technology?
- What advice would you give the mayor of NYC on his decision whether or not to use it?
- Do you think this could become a major energy source in the near future?
- If this technology is so popular in Europe, why do you think we don't use it in our country?
- Do you think all the claims made about this technology are true? Why or why not?
Information:
Title: Waste-to-Electricity Plan Draws Mixed Response in N.Y.
Author: Mireya Navarro
Date: 4/27/2011
I agree 100% with Kyle on this one. This alternative "knocks out two birds with one stone." I gets rid of our waste and creates electricity, so why not use it? I did;nt see anything in the article about what pollution it makes, so I would be very interested to find that out. Humans create so much garbage and our landfills are overflowing. This technology will get rid of some of our waste in a way that is also benefitting us. Therefore, it is a win-win situation. One connection I can make is that when I throw out my trash everyday in the cafeteria, I am amazed at how much trash there is by the end of lunch. All of that trash goes to the landfills, and with this new technology is will be re-used as electricity in our schools.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Kyles 1st question: I think that waste-to-electricity technology is a great idea. Like I stated above, it is a win-win situation in our favor because it gets rid of waste, and provides us with electricity.