The next low-carbon energy source? It might be trash

Energy & Environment News reports that climate change is intensifying interest in the waste-to-energy industry. The story quotes John Atkinson, assistant professor in UB’s Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, who said the ultimate goal should be to produce less trash.

But until that happens, turning waste into low- or zero-carbon electricity is an idea worth pursuing, he said. “We have to put the waste somewhere. And the options for where that waste goes are to a landfill or to a waste energy facility,” he said. The article mentions Covanta funded an independent study about its Niagara Falls facility that Atkinson led.

Read the story here.