Garbage Power

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• 	Garbage Power Kinch on 05/25/2007 at 1:40 PM
  Posts: 2	Lightning-like arcs?  Plasma?  These phenomena require significant quantities of energy to produce.  What is the net energy balance of this technology? Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • Re: Garbage Power deannagay on 11/17/2007 at 11:18 PM

    Posts: 2 Avg Rating:

    The energy to run the plasma torch, and more, is derived from the waste, which is currently piling up in landfills by the ton, polluting groundwater, giving off noxious fumes and otherwise existing as a toxic disaster.  Plasma waste incineration deserves more attention than it is getting from the alternative energy community.  I have been looking for information ever since reading one general article on 'Startech Environmental' in Popular Science magazine, and while information is out there, it takes some serious digging to find it.  The basics go like this: a plasma torch creates a temperature high enough to break the molecular bonds of any material fed into the chamber, producing combustible gas, heat (think steam energy) and volcanic slag, a pretty good trade for the chemical and physical debris produced by modern society, excluding only nuclear products.  The proprietors of the technology claim that the volcanic glass and gas are free of toxins, which I would like to see verified by outside sources, except that outside sources don't seem to be weighing in one way or the other.  It's a shame, because if the story is even partially true, then we are talking about making a closed loop out of waste disposal and clean energy generation.  Spotlessly clean as the proponents claim, or only partially true, as seems more likely, still, it is a massive improvement over the status quo.  NYC has a 100+ page report on their dot.gov website summarizing their investigation of different technologies which can turn trash into a source of energy, and plasma waste incineration is high up on the scale of energy returned for material fed into it. Solar, biofuels, hydrogen and all of the currently popular alternative energy technologies deserve the attention they are getting, but so does the idea of cleaning up our trash, and recovering some of the energy embodied in the pile while we're at it.  Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • 	Re: Garbage Power jmoriweb on 12/19/2007 at 7:17 AM
      Posts: 1	I love the idea of of taking garbage and making energy from it. The process seems pretty straight forward but my concern is garbage contaminated with heavy metals or acids. What would be the waste product if batteries where fed into this system? I can not seem to find any answers for that question. Rate this comment: (Reply)