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Turning Trash Into Energy
Turning Trash
Into Energy: "Knee-jerk" reaction to the concept
One of the statements made in
this process that I've uncovered is that we could turn 'trash into energy'.
Any average citizen's 'knee-jerk' reaction to this statement would be that this
is a great concept! Trash (that nobody wants) turned into energy -
fantastic, right?
And one of the selling points posed
on this expansion issue is that if allowed to expand, liquefiers could be
installed that would allow Waste Management to turn the methane gas they are
currently burning off and convert it into energy for homes. Currently
there is a small mechanism in place at the Simi Landfill that allows 1/3 of the
120 trucks to utilize this resource. * I don't quite
understand the full process but the EPA has produced this graphic that might
give the average citizen a "micro-version" of the process :
So when you look at the image,
landfills seem to be a good source of energy. However, the point to pay
attention to that organic waste (as it decomposes) is producing the methane
gas.
And landfills are not composed
entirely of organic or carbon-based material.
I think the one thread in this
whole issue that bothers me the most is that depending on who you talk to, the
numbers, values and validating documentation change. I have (now) had the
tendency to take each figure, statement or document and look at it with a
skeptical eye to insure it's not 'smoke and mirrors'.
Just the statement of "2,250
people = 1,300 tons of trash = the energy needs of 1 home" doesn't sell the idea
of an expanded landfill for me. Just staying real here, 2,250 people
couldn't fit into one home!
But using that statement and
doing the math (2,250 people generating 2.5 pounds per day of trash times 364
days of the year equals 2,047,500 pounds or 1,023.75 tons), it seems that the
first part of their statement is relatively correct according to the EPA's
previous reports from 2006.
According the U.S. Census
Bureau, there are 40,187 homes in Simi (79% owned, the remaining rentals or
vacant - and if vacant, there are no energy needs) and 124,653 people.
So using this 'annual energy potential' calculation, without the conversion
process and the expansion, the energy needs for 55 homes is being lost --- or
0.14% (yes, that's LESS than 1%). There have been NO statements by
anyone so far (or that I could find), saying that expansion and the liquid gas
conversion would be handed over or utilized by Simi Valley homeowners... just
that the potential exists and we're "losing energy that could be used for
residents' homes". It is my feeling that just saying "we are losing
energy" in a time of 'going green', recycling and being faced with over $4 per
gallon for gas tends to get people's attention or knee-jerk reactions.
Doubling the TPD (tons per day)
permit would in effect (using these statements and calculation), allow the
potential for the energy needs of a quarter of one percent of the homes in Simi
(0.28%). And I'm pretty sure the energy needs wouldn't be free, but they'd
be sold by Waste Management somehow for companies seldom do things out of the
goodness of their heart but because they're in business and held accountable by
stockholders and owners, spurring the need to make money and profits.
BUT, I ask you as an everyday
citizen... if you were getting less than half a percent of interest at any bank
where they'd asked you to save your money, wouldn't you find a better rate at
another bank? You deposit $100 into a savings account and at the end of the
year, they return a dime and four pennies as interest... would you feel you'd
gotten a good deal? Or would you be happy with less than half a percent
return on your investment in some business, would you invest?
Again, this idea of "providing
energy from trash" or that we're losing it currently, does not justify in my
mind, the need to double the landfill and/or approve the application.
Keeping it real (always),
Linda
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