Over the past years India has been booming. The population is growing, the cities are urbanizing, and they are moving away from an agricultural economy to a service based one. India's consumption is rising due to this shift, creating one of the worst cases of municipal solid waste on the streets and in the water ever. Every year 55 million tonnes of municipal solid waste and 38 billion liters of sewage is generated. It is estimated that their waste per capital will increase by 33% annually. One effort to reduce these numbers is Waste to Energy, an approach that takes organic municipal waste and turns it into energy through thermal, biochemical, thermochemical, and electrochemical conversion. Creating fuel this way could also decrease dependence on fossil fuels. Although the idea of turning waste into energy can kill two birds with one stone, the technology needed is more expensive than other waste reduction methods (implementing and enforcing better waste separation systems) and this method only works for organic municipal waste. However, if this technology can advance, it has the potential to turn industrial waste into energy as well.
Quote:
"These measures would reduce the quantity of wastes, generate a substantial quantity of energy from them, and greatly reduce pollution of water and air, thereby offering a number of social and economic benefits that cannot easily be quantified."
Personal Thinking:
I hope this technology can advance. It is an amazing idea to make energy from our trash. Although I'm sure this process is more complicated and the benefits may not be everything it was made out to be, I feel that this kind of innovation is needed to advance. India's waste problem over the years is truly horrifying. Their urbanization has certainly benefited their economy, but not their environment. I'm sure their culture is moving towards a more sustainable one after this crisis.
Citation:
"India Waste to Energy." Energy Alternatives India. ESI, n.d. Web. 27 Sept.
2013. <http://www.eai.in/ref/ae/wte/wte.html>.
It'd be absolutely amazing if the Waste to Energy method could work. When I see the picture of all the waste it makes me automatically compare to the damage we've done here in the United States and it almost seems as if we're not so bad. But then I realize that, the US is just as bad but people haven't been exposed to the awful realities of how we live. I think this post is very eye opening and extremely important for people to learn about.
ReplyDeleteIt would be incredible if our technology could advance enough to spread across the globe. I hate the idea of adding more pollution into the atmosphere, and it would be so beneficial to use our waste to make energy. It is sad to think that we acknowledge the waste and pollution-- we can even admit that each of us can be a bit wasteful-- yet we do not go far enough to change our ways. Since we cannot eliminate waste production, we can at least make it productive, and I like the ideas you've picked out, Jenny!
ReplyDeleteThis would be amazing! Across the world, trash is sitting in landfills, polluting the Earth. Americans and many other people produce SO much trash that it would be incredible to be able to use the trash for energy.
ReplyDelete