Why is it that Waste-to-Energy (WTE) has not seriously been considered as a
conversion strategy for the Cayuga Power Plant (aka Milliken Station) in
Lansing? In 2012 a group of Cornell engineering students under the direction
of Francis Vanek conducted a detailed study of WTE as a possible energy source
for the Lansing/Cayuga plant, and found that it "appeared to be cost
competitive, could use existing infrastructure with minor capital investments
for facility changes at Milliken Station, and has the additional environmental
benefit of reducing landfilling of municipal garbage."
In late May (May 31?) Francis Vanek published a letter in the Ithaca Journal
that highlighted this idea, but somehow it hasn't excited the interest of the
local sustainability community or of key local decision makers such as members
of the Tompkins County Legislature. Why not?
The plant's owners want to convert it from a coal plant to natural gas, while
most of us who are concerned about fracking want the plant mothballed and its
energy replaced by energy generated by renewable sources from elsewhere.
Lansing residents (many of whom oppose gas drilling by fracking) and the
Lansing School District are understandably worried about what the loss of the
existing plant would do to the district's tax base. These two polarized
positions are apparently the only ones that will be seriously considered at the
upcoming Public Service Commission (PSC) forum next week (July 29).
So why not convert the plant to operate on WTE fuel? Eighty-nine WTE plants
currently operate in the US, including 10 in NY State. My wife, Dorothy
Pomponio, recently corresponded with Richard Lewis, a representative for
Recovered Energy, Inc., which facilitates retrofitting of existing coal-fired
power plants to operate using waste as fuel. Plasma gasification is the method
used to convert the waste to energy; it does not incinerate the waste, but
heats it to such high temperatures that organic waste becomes a gas (fuel), and
inorganic waste is vitrified. Mr. Lewis wrote to Dorothy that toxic emissions
from the plant would be reduced by 99% (from current); consumption of water at
the plant could be reduced by at least 50% (from current consumption levels);
plant efficiency would increase dramatically; it would have a new 40-year life;
and using municipal waste as fuel would reduce the amount of waste going into
landfills.
For details, visit the website at http://recoveredenergy.com/
This sounds like a win-win-win to me. So why isn't WTE conversion part of the
current debate over what to do with the Cayuga Power Plant in Lansing?
Joel Rabinowitz
Executive Director
Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve
607-279-7393
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please
visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
If you have questions about this list please contact the list manager, Tom
Shelley, at [email protected].
