WASTE TO ENERGY

Energy producers take another look at trash; Federal grants help refuse-to-energy plants get going
Elizabeth Davidz, March 13, 2007 (Medill News Service via Dow Jones MarketWatch)

WHO
Politicians and energy experts are taking another look at America's refuse…

WHAT
Millions of federal and private dollars are already backing new energy enterprises across the country from a California plant turning trash into ethanol, to a Minnesota plant turning poultry feces into power…

WHEN
Waste-to-energy technology has been around since the 1930s, but even as it evolves it's been elbowed out of the marketplace by cheaper fossil fuel-based power…"trash" tech may finally be able to compete and shed its image of being costly and inefficient…

WHERE
BlueFire Ethanol was awarded up to $40 million to develop a solid waste bio-refinery at a Southern California landfill. The plant, which will start construction this year, will use the landfill's organic trash to produce 19 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year, according to the company…built by 2009, [the plant] will run on methane -- a gas emitted by rotting organic trash that can be used like natural gas… In Minnesota, Fibrominn LLC's plant will also burn waste…The difference is in the waste. Fibrominn's plant, due to open in June, will burn poultry feces…the plant will produce enough electricity for about 90,000 homes. The resulting nutrient-rich ash can then be sold as a fertilizer. The company's European partner, Fibrowatt LLC, has three similar plants already running in the United Kingdom…

WHY
In the nation, there are 89 plants generating 2,800 megawatts of energy from burning trash, enough to supply more than 2 million households, according to the Energy Department… The waste-to-energy technologies of BlueFire, Fibrominn and other companies don't add to greenhouse gas emissions, because they run on carbon already in the environment…waste-to-energy plants must control unpleasant odors by containing and scrubbing the trash's emissions…

QUOTES
Both BlueFire's and Fibrominn's plants are being built in states that already have "green" energy incentives. As the Congress looks to extend and create "renewable" energy incentives -- like those in the 2005 Energy Policy Act -- it is possible these companies and other new tech waste-to-energy companies will be able to get a foothold in more places across the country.