Has anyone heard anything about these waste to energy plants lately? These are the big plants that some states, and most of Europe have, that burn trash to produce energy, and pipe the heat to households to lower heating costs. This technology arose about 10 to 15 years ago and became a very popular option until it was found that these plants emissions released very harmful substances into the air such as sulfur oxide, dioxins, nitrogen oxides, and carbons, therefore earning these plants a bad wrap and sending the idea to the recycle bin. I have been doing a little research as it has been coming out more often lately that the technology for burning trash for energy has vastly improved in the last 10 years. Europe has been using newer versions of these plants, with better and cleaner technology, for a good time now with very good results. The United States still fears this process, and holds onto the belief that it negatively impacts the environment, and so the majority of garbage in the U.S. gets carted off to distant landfills for storage which adds not only unsightly mounds to other areas of the country, but also adds to the gas released into the air through garbage AND the trucks used to take it there.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/04/13/science/earth/13trash.html?ref=earth
Some states spend 300+ million a year to cart this trash to places like Ohio, West Virginia, and New Jersey while the cost of a trash burning waste energy plant is around 300 million itself, and then the state could take care of its own trash, as well as add a few jobs and produce electricity.
Anyone else have any insight on this? Why does the U.S. not back this idea as a viable option, costs aside, because lets face it, we spend a whole lot more money on things, and these kinds of plants not only help us make the environment cleaner, but they also help lower our dependence on oil as an energy source.