The Future of Energy #4

As I said inmy last blog, the future of energy is being reshaped and some amazing new technologies are emerging. I am sharing a few of these technologies because they are imaginative and inspiring. They show just how ingenious scientists andentrepreneurscan be when they unite for a common cause. I am no expert, so if you run across something else or have something to add, please comment!

3) Trash to Energy

The average American creates 3.5 pounds of trash each day that ends up in landfills, and as it decomposes, releases harmful methane into the atmosphere (methans it 20 times more potent that C02).

Recently, many companies have been looking to turn this harmful process into a much better one. Companies are finding increasingly sophisticated ways to harvest the methane, which can be used to generate electricity or used in comparable way to natural gas.

There are already over 396 operational landfill gas projects in the United alone and the recession has given added incentives for waste companies to develop projects as a revenue stream. Waste Management Inc, one of the world's largest waste companies and is looking to the Chinese market to generate 20 per cent of its total revenues from waste to energy generation.

Other companies are finding more specific trash-to-energy applications. Fibrowatt takes poultry litter that would otherwise end up in landfills and burns it at a high temperature. The steam that is generated is turned into energy and the ash that is generated is used for fertilizer. Its not exactly a zero-carbon process but it does seem to be making the best out of the worst.

It feels a little bit wrong to be thinking of trash as an opportunity--surely we should only think of it as a bad thing that must be minimized--but if there are ways to make a bad think a little bit better, I see no reason why we shouldn't embrace it.