The Global Problem

According to a recent World Wildlife Fund Report, climate change is happening faster than previously predicted.

There are two significant global issues facing the world today :-
• Energy and the associated carbon footprint in its production
• Disposal of ever increasing waste generated

With growing urban populations, the volume of waste from human consumption and industrial development have skyrocketed to potentially unmanageable proportions, spreading dangerous pollutants, undermining ecosystems and contributing to global warming.

Existing methods of waste disposal are both environmentally and socially inadequate. The present may be the beginning of the end if we fail to deal with the causes of global warming and reverse climate change.

At the same time, faced with the threat of climate change and the need to replace polluting and depleting fossil fuel, new sources of renewable energy have to be urgently developed to meet the demands of an energy hungry world.

Global Waste-to-Energy Capacity

Worldwide, about 140 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) are combusted annually in over 780 waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities that produce electricity and steam for district heating and recovered metals for recycling (Source : Waste Management World).

This represents only 7% of MSW generated worldwide. Since 1995, the global WTE industry increased by more than 16 million tonnes of MSW. Currently, there are 780 WTE facilities in 35 nations, including large countries such as China and small ones such as Bermuda. Recent analysis of waste disposal methods shows that WTE is on the rise worldwide and is established as a mainstream solution in some regions. Countries in Asia, such as Singapore, Taiwan and Japan have adopted WTE technology. Japan currently processes up to 70% of its MSW via WTE.

Waste remediation and alternative energy production are two of the most difficult challenges facing the world today. Over 400 million tons of hazardous waste is created each year in OECD countries alone. The 2002 aggregate hazardous waste treatment markets were in excess of $400 billion. China, for example, currently generates over 10 million tons of hazardous waste per year. Only 6 million tons are recycled or disposed of safely. The remaining 3 million tons are stored in temporary facilities. A total of 20 million tons is now stored, posing a serious threat to the environment. The Chinese government has worked out plans to earmark more than RMB28 billion (US$3.4 billion) for building adequate facilities to properly treat all hazardous wastes in the near term.

In general, conventional methods for the treatment and disposal of wastes result in significant environmental challenges, including secondary pollution and future liability issues (for landfilled waste streams). Most of these conventional treatment processes do not generate any valuable end-products from the treatment process. For example, incineration creates significant airborne pollution (e.g. dioxins, furans, NOx, SOx) and large amounts of toxic ashes (that required stabilization and landfilling). Landfilling, not only utilizes valuable land resources, but the long-term effects of co-mingled wastes (e.g. MSW with stabilized inorganic/heavy –metal bearing wastes) poses unknown long-term contamination risks. Furthermore, landfilling of organic wastes generates methane gas which has a Global Warming Potential that is 21 times larger than CO2.

FutureNrg’s solutions completely utilizes wastes as a valuable feedstock for the generation of valuable end-products without creating any airborne pollution or secondary solid wastes that require further treatment and disposal.

Here is some additional data for some selected Asian countries (as reported in Basel Convention reports).

Of the 2 billion people who lack access to modern energy services, 1.2 billion live in Asia.  Many governments give high priority to supplying electricity to all households, including those living in remote rural areas that cannot be easily reached by the national grids.  Local alternative/renewable energy resources must be used to supply electricity to these areas, using individual systems or independent grids.  The demand for remote area electricity services, along with the growing concern for the environment and sustainable development, has increased the demand for alternative energy.

Demand is also growing for alternative energy projects that either reduce electricity requirements through increased energy efficiency, or can increase generation on national grids through non-utility alternative/renewable energy plants.  Asia is expected to require 300 to 400 giga-watts of new capacity in the near future. Governments, however, cannot organize quickly the massive financing required for provision of the required infrastructure.  Alternative energy currently accounts for approximately 1% of the new capacity added in the region (excluding large-scale hydropower).  Without a strong push for the advancement of alternative/renewable energy projects, the use of Coal as a fuel source for power generation, particularly in China, is expected to increase by a factor of 5 by the year 2020.  Even with the use of advanced emission controls and cleaner burning technologies, the impact to the environment would be very serious.  China also uses over four times as much energy to generate GDP as the average Group of Seven nations (as per the Asian Development Bank), and still relies on coal for around 70 percent of that energy.  As with other nations in Asia, China in particular has no choice but to embrace alternative/renewable energy technologies and programs to ensure sustainable growth.

The U.S. Congress's nonpartisan budget analyst recently stated that China's rising energy demand could boost global oil prices by as much as $14 a barrel over the next five years.