May 9, 2008

Trash Could Be Part of the Answer for America’s Energy Needs

By Congressman Joe Pitts

As we search for answers to our nation’s insatiable demand for energy, perhaps policymakers should look to none other than Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  In Lancaster, near Bainbridge, the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA) operates a waste-to-energy facility that is literally turning trash into clean energy.

During a recent visit, I had the opportunity to see this incredible technology firsthand.  Right there, on the banks of the Susquehanna River, trash that would have otherwise filled the local landfill is instead producing 198 million kilowatts of electricity a year. 

The Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) uses three separate furnaces to burn solid waste at temperatures over 1,800˚ Fahrenheit.  It processes 400 tons of waste a day, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The heat is used to convert water into steam, which turns a turbine, generating electricity.  The facility itself is operated using just 10 percent of the energy produced—the other 90 percent is sold to the local electricity provider, First Energy.  The waste is burned several times, and the resulting ash is used as daily cover fill at the local Frey Farm Landfill, negating the need for expensive fill dirt.    

The statistics on the facility are impressive.  In 2007, it processed 342,600 tons of waste and generated $10.8 million worth of electricity.  Since the facility came on line in 1991, it has processed 6 million tons of waste that would otherwise be sitting in a landfill.  The facility has generated 3.1 billion kilowatts of electricity, enough energy to power all of Lancaster County’s homes for 2 years. 

The benefits of a waste-to-energy program are obvious.  Trash that might otherwise sit in a landfill is used to generate clean energy.  The facility uses and treats effluent from the Elizabethtown Borough Waste Water Treatment Plant, which had been previously discharged into the Susquehanna River, thus saving pollution from ending up in the Chesapeake Bay.  In addition, the facility recycles metal, glass, and plastics.   

We have, right here in the United States, a massive resource for producing energy that is currently, quite literally, being thrown out.  A ton of solid waste has the energy equivalent of one barrel of oil.  New York City trucks over 30,000 tons of solid waste out of the city every day.  According to the EPA, in 2006 (the most recent year with figures available), Americans generated about 251 million tons of trash.  This figure represents a huge untapped resource that is instead taking up land to be used as landfills.   

The up-front investment necessary to build a waste-to-energy facility is indeed substantial.  However, the factors that make waste-to-energy favorable are increasing.  As landfills are placed further and further from the urban areas where waste is generated, and as fuel costs for trucking the waste increases, waste-to-energy facilities are beginning to make more sense financially as a way to dispose of waste.  Additionally, as electricity prices increase, the return on the investment from the electricity generated by the facilities is becoming more attractive as well.

The old-line opposition to waste-to-energy facilities claims that they pollute the air.  However, with significant advances in technology in the last couple of decades, the emissions from waste-to-energy facilities have become increasingly clean.  The facility near Bainbridge uses a number of innovative technologies to remove pollution from the air that eventually leaves the stack.  In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency says the electricity from waste-to-energy facilities is some of the cleanest energy out there. 

The Europeans and Japanese have been utilizing this process at far greater levels for decades.  China plans to build 300 plants like the one here in Lancaster.  They can see the great potential that is present in this technology. 

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