The small UK town of Huddersfield announced what might be a world’s first: a trash-powered electric garbage truck.
The truck is a modified Smith Edison 3.5-ton Ford Transit municipal trash truck. The “leccy vehicle” has a 40kWh lithium-ion battery, and a range of about 100 miles. It can be fully charged in about 8 hours.
It’s a local truck for local people (I <3 Tubbs).
It will get its electricity from the Energy from Waste (EfW) station, a station responsible for converting the trash collected into energy. The station will burn the trash collected at 25 newly installed bins around central Huddersfield to generate the electricity. So the trash collected will power the vehicle for the next day’s route.
Aside from just powering the truck, the Eneregy from Waste station also pumps about 10 megawatts of juice back into the National Grid each day: all from fire-consumed local trash.
Currently, the EfW only has one recharging point. But hey, I’m not a half-emtpy, one is better than none!
Well, on the half-empty side of things, I do question how environmental this is. Here in the States, the EPA estimates that in 17-percent of the nation’s waste was burned to generate electricity (e.g., 14% in Pennsylvania, 2% in New Jersey; 2% in California), 55% was disposed in landfills, and 28% was recovered for reuse.
I am not sure I would say burning trash is a renewable energy source, though the EPA and some state governments disagree. But burning trash leads to the emission of carbon compounds ,nitrogen, sulphur, etc. Um, that can’t be good?
Source and photos: Register Hardware
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As I understand it, 96% of the trash collected by this truck gets taken out of the mix and recycled. Only the remainder is burned, and the incinerator is fitted with the very latest scrubbers and filters to clean up its emissions.
Incidentally, Smith have been making electric vehicles for about 90 years, in which time they’ve quietly shipped tens of thousands of them. Take a look at the Case Studies page on their website http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com to see some of the various uses to which the latest few hundred have been put.
As I understand it, 96% of the trash collected by this truck gets taken out of the mix and recycled. Only the remainder is burned, and the incinerator is fitted with the very latest scrubbers and filters to clean up its emissions.
Incidentally, Smith have been making electric vehicles for about 90 years, in which time they’ve quietly shipped tens of thousands of them. Take a look at the Case Studies page on their website http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com to see some of the various uses to which the latest few hundred have been put.
I think turning trash to fuel by the F.T. process is better. IF going burn it A gasification process is the cleanest way to go.
I think turning trash to fuel by the F.T. process is better. IF going burn it A gasification process is the cleanest way to go.
If the trash would have been incinerated anyway, then I say they’re actually getting triple use out of it.
1.) The Garbage truck is no longer spewing fumes from the tailpipe since it’s charged by this
2.) 10 Megawatt get pumped back in to the grid
3.) The trash gets reduced.
Now since they’re not spewing fumes in to the air, and they’re not using coal to generate the electricity, and the waste may have been incinerated anyway, I call it a hat-trick
Is this where I call out “Yahtzee!?”
If the trash would have been incinerated anyway, then I say they’re actually getting triple use out of it.
1.) The Garbage truck is no longer spewing fumes from the tailpipe since it’s charged by this
2.) 10 Megawatt get pumped back in to the grid
3.) The trash gets reduced.
Now since they’re not spewing fumes in to the air, and they’re not using coal to generate the electricity, and the waste may have been incinerated anyway, I call it a hat-trick
Is this where I call out “Yahtzee!?”
Even with the “best” scrubbers and filters, incineration is a dirty and outdated technology. The fly ash which collected in the chimneys typically contains extremely high concentrations of heavy metals, dioxins and other highly toxic substances. The only substance more toxic to mammals than dioxins, is radioactive material such as plutonium.
The same EFW result can be achived by replacing incinerators with anaerobic digesters which also produce a useful end-product; garden-ready compost instead of a toxic by-product that then has to be landfilled under special conditions (not illegally spread on allotments as with the Byker scandal in Newcastle).
Anaerobic digestion is well proven as a technology and has been in use around the world for more than 20 years. New improved technology has also reduced the size of the composters dramatically – see: http://www.bioplex.co.uk for examples.
Even with the “best” scrubbers and filters, incineration is a dirty and outdated technology. The fly ash which collected in the chimneys typically contains extremely high concentrations of heavy metals, dioxins and other highly toxic substances. The only substance more toxic to mammals than dioxins, is radioactive material such as plutonium.
The same EFW result can be achived by replacing incinerators with anaerobic digesters which also produce a useful end-product; garden-ready compost instead of a toxic by-product that then has to be landfilled under special conditions (not illegally spread on allotments as with the Byker scandal in Newcastle).
Anaerobic digestion is well proven as a technology and has been in use around the world for more than 20 years. New improved technology has also reduced the size of the composters dramatically – see: http://www.bioplex.co.uk for examples.
I agree with BBAC, but I’d use an AEROBIC digester. According to a book I was reading, an aerobic compost system can completely remove any disease organisms even in human fecal matter, giving you a rich, black soil that feeds plants and doesn’t get anybody sick. That way, anything that was once alive can be put right back into the farms. Then we can reuse or recycle everything else–plastic gets melted down and reused, metal does the same…and hey, local recycling centers could just gather the material, then send it off someplace else.
Of course, that would be helped a lot if people just stop thinking of trash generation as a linear process. Buy food, eat food, throw out wrappers, poop out food, send poop down the rail–the cycle should be grow food, sell/buy food, eat food, poop out food, compost poop, fertilize soil, grow food, sell/buy food…
However, I do also agree with Bryan. It’s better to use the incinerator to produce electricity than to just run it. I’d just prefer taking it down.
I agree with BBAC, but I’d use an AEROBIC digester. According to a book I was reading, an aerobic compost system can completely remove any disease organisms even in human fecal matter, giving you a rich, black soil that feeds plants and doesn’t get anybody sick. That way, anything that was once alive can be put right back into the farms. Then we can reuse or recycle everything else–plastic gets melted down and reused, metal does the same…and hey, local recycling centers could just gather the material, then send it off someplace else.
Of course, that would be helped a lot if people just stop thinking of trash generation as a linear process. Buy food, eat food, throw out wrappers, poop out food, send poop down the rail–the cycle should be grow food, sell/buy food, eat food, poop out food, compost poop, fertilize soil, grow food, sell/buy food…
However, I do also agree with Bryan. It’s better to use the incinerator to produce electricity than to just run it. I’d just prefer taking it down.