How Waste-to-Energy Displaces Other Energy Sources and Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• The energy produced by the nation’s 89 waste-to-energy facilities is the electricity generating equivalent of 30 million barrels of crude oil. (30 million tons of trash = 30 million barrels of crude oil)¹
  
  
• For every ton of trash disposed in a waste-to-energy plant, there is one ton LESS of carbon dioxide emission released into the air due to avoiding land disposal and fossil fuel generation. (One ton MSW = one ton CO2 equivalent)²
  
  
• The energy produced by the nation’s waste-to-energy plants is enough to meet the energy needs of 2.3 million American homes.³
  
  
• America’s 89 waste-to-energy plants displace 7.8 million tons of coal that otherwise would be combusted for energy each year.⁴

¹Assume one barrel crude oil = 42 US gallons = 42 X 140,000 BTU/gallon = 5,880,000BTU. . Average fuel consumption of conventional U.S. power plants is 10,500 BTU/kWh. One barrel of oil = 5,880,000 / 10,500 = 560 kWh. On average, U.S. waste-to-energy plants generate a net 550 kWh per ton of municipal solid waste combusted. 1 ton MSW = 550/560 = 1 barrel of oil. This comparison looks at displacement of oil for electricity production. A greater amount of oil is displaced on a strictly BTU comparison with municipal solid waste.

²See The Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Management on Greenhouse Gas Emissions In the United States, by K.A. Weitz, Research Triangle that found 30 million tons managed by waste-to-energy facilities in the U.S. resulted in approximately 33 million tons of CO2 avoided release into the atmosphere; see also Municipal Waste-to-Energy Facilities Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, by Hunter F. Taylor (1990); Incineration Waste and The Greenhouse Effect, by K.L.E. Nystrom (1993); The Waste-to-Energy Sector and the Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, by S. Fotis and D. Sussman (1996); and Greenhouse Gas Abatement: Assessing WTE and landfill disposal, by D. Batchelor, D. Eeraerts and P. Smits (2002) all finding a similar correlation between waste-to-energy disposal of MSW and avoided release of greenhouse gases as an equivalent amount of CO2.

³Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy national rate of electrical consumption per household, (1.22 kwh per household in 2001, the most recent national average data available) and Integrated Waste Services Association 2004 Directory of Waste-to-Energy Plants finding America’s 89 facilities generated the equivalent of approximately 2800 megawatts of electricity.

⁴Energy, Environment and Economics (E3) Handbook, First Edition September 1997, U.S. Department of Energy http://www.oit.doe.gov/e3handbook/,Appendix G,Table AG-3 Energy Equivalent and Footnote 3 assuming a sub bituminous or national blend with a HHV of 12,000 BTU/lb and 30% coal plant efficiency (or 0.47 tons coal / 1000 kWh). Assume one ton of coal used for electricity generation has a heating value of 12,000 BTU/lb = 2000 lb/ton X 12,000 = 24,000,000 BTU. Average fuel consumption of conventional U.S. power plants is 10,500 BTU/kWh. Therefore 1 ton of coal = 24,000,000 / 10,500 = 2280 kWh. Calculations result in a finding that 3.8 tons MSW equals the electrical production from 1 ton of coal, or stated differently, 0.26 tons of coal equals the electricity production equivalent of one ton of MSW combusted for energy at a waste-to-energy plant.