A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Waste's State of the Union

Benefits of Expanding WTE Deployment

April’s issue of POWER Magazine featured an excerpt of Stan Rosinski’s white paper entitled Waste-to-Energy Technology: Opportunities for Expanding Renewable Generation & Reducing Carbon Emissions. This paper serves as a relatively up-to-date overview of the state of the WTE industry in Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Seeing this paper again reminded us of how many people are approaching this industry from a variety of backgrounds. Although Rosinski’s text can be a little dense for newcomers, he provides an excellent foundation for understanding the various technologies in advanced thermal conversion, resource management, processing methods and feedstocks.

We find the graphics to be especially helpful in communicating the maturation rate of different technologies, MSW management by region and the environmental hierarchy for solid waste management.

Rosinski points out that the two largest barriers to development in the industry in the United States come from misconceptions about the environmental performance that foster negative opinions and the high cost and risk that keeps projects from being funded.

Since the best way to combat the first problem is through education, we’d highly recommend this paper for anyone interested in breaking into the industry or better understanding the difference between development in the U.S. and overseas.

Waste-to-Energy Technology Options Increase but Remain Underutilized – POWER Magazine, April 2012

To Read the Full White Paper:
Waste-to-Energy Technology: Opportunities for Expanding Renewable Generation & Reducing Carbon Emissions – by Stan Rosinski , Electric Power Research Institute

From Refuse to Electrons