In anticipation
for this week’s North American Waste-to-Energy Conference (NAWTEC) at Chantilly,
VA, I invaded the magazine’s archives to see if there was anything I had written
in the past about energy from waste that was applicable today. Here then is an
excerpt frommy Editor’s Comments for the November/December 2003 issue of MSW
Management, the full version of which can be found at http://www.mswmanagement.com/november-december-2003/up-from-rubble.aspx.
Even as the
effects of the terrorist attacks continue to percolate, we received another
vulnerability message in the guise of the great Northeast blackout of August 14,
2003. While experts continue to sift through data to determine "the cause," most
of us sense that the issue is far broader in the emerging recognition that the
North American power grid is sadly deficient and further that there is no quick
fix in sight.
Here I'm jumping
up on my soapbox to suggest that the energy policy of America -- and in this I
include even the most ambitious environmental groups and those who would have us
go back to the good old days before there was pollution -- is summed up in the
all-but-universal assumption that when you flick the switch, the lights, the TV,
or the boom box darned well better go on. Forget the slogans. Forget the
rhetoric. Forget high-flying principles. Just get the things I've come to rely
on to work.
So what does this
mean for us? As citizens it means that we're going to have to find ways to shave
our energy needs and look for offsets for the remaining demand. As waste
managers controlling materials that one way or another can significantly affect
the energy balance equation, should we be less responsive? I think
not.
Within every
decision there are several dimensions that should be considered, chief among
them (to me at least) are economics, societal values, environmental concerns,
and sustainability. Determining the highest and best use of the different
materials that come into our possession via various wastestreams is no simple
matter, particularly when we have little to guide us other than our own best
judgment. Because most of the regulations that govern our activities come via
the United States Environmental Protection Agency and its offspring, over the
past few years we've tended to establish our goals and objectives on
environmentally rooted principles, leaving other concerns to fall into line as
best they can. But now we face -- and I believe it is an opportunity rather than
a flat challenge -- the need to focus increased attention on societal goals and
sustainability, particularly in the area of energy.
The
administration's National Energy Policy (NEP), promulgated in May 2001, set
goals in a number of areas, among them an increase in distributed energy
resources (DER) and development of renewable-energy programs and resources. At
the moment several states offer incentives for renewable-energy projects and
resource development, and as the NEP gains momentum, it seems reasonable to
expect other states to come onboard as well. Because of the shared bond between
renewable energy and DER, waste managers have an opportunity to share in the
success of the NEP by dedicating a portion of their wastestreams into fuel for
these off-grid systems. For most of us, this will require new ways of thinking
and a realignment of priorities. Perhaps the way we've been doing things will
still be best, but a little reality check can never hurt.
Six-and-a-half
years later have our needs and actions changed to any significant extent? Yes
and no. The demand for developing sustainable energy resources has increased and
we’re beginning to see true improvements in the efficiency in many of the
energy-hungry systems that are part and parcel of our daily lives. But many of
the same impediments to bringing renewable resources into fold remain…and
nowhere is this situation more evident than in the waste-to-energy
arena.
With a little
luck, policy makers will begin to pay more attention to such entities as NAWTEC
than to those who continue to place roadblocks in the paths leading to energy
sustainability.