Alexandria, VA – One man's trash is quickly becoming society's new treasure, according to an article in EARTH Magazine, where they explore how materials that were once considered garbage are now being recognized for their true potential as valuable energy resources capable of solving multiple problems at once.
If successful, these "waste-to-energy" options could serve as a silver bullet – displacing fossil fuels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and decreasing the amount of trash that winds up in already teeming landfills.
Although several of these options have existed for many years, harnessing energy from solid waste is expensive and a net energy loss and therefore practiced sparingly in the United States.
Now a research team out of the University of Texas is attempting to make one type of waste-derived fuel – solid recovered fuels (SRFs) – a more appealing alternative energy option in the U.S.
Source: American Geological Institute