Published Papers & Presentations
For an excellent source of information on waste-to-energy and its benefits, please check out these documents.
Energy Answers' Papers
Business Vehicles for Accomplishment (PDF)
"At this point in time, with rising global energy demand, increased local concern for the environment, global warming mitigation agreements and government incentives for solving these problems, the prospects for the private sector solution providers to structure economically attractive alternatives is excellent. The vehicles we create to accomplish business objectives can be used to appropriately allocate the project risks, protect the participants, yield significant profits for all and provide an opportunity for major corporations to make significant contributions to improving our environment. We at Energy Answers look forward to the new challenges." - Patrick F. Mahoney, P.E., D.E.E - 6/21-22/2005, 14th Annual AHC Corporate Affiliates Workshop, Saratoga Springs, NY
Solid Waste as an Economic Generator for Sustainable Development (PDF)"Energy Answers is not a large corporation. We do not produce and sell products which may have an environmental impact. We are a small organization, dedicated to cleaning up the mess and eliminating waste. Our products are systems which take in waste and utilize it to recover energy and materials in forms which will be attractive to the market place. Our sole business is renewable energy, environmental improvement, reduction of waste and conservation of resources." - Patrick F. Mahoney, P.E., D.E.E - 6/18-19/2001, 9th Annual AHC Corporate Affiliates Workshop, Saratoga Springs, NY
Comparative Impacts of Local Waste-to-Energy vs. Long Distance Disposal of Municipal Waste (PDF)"As the cost of energy and transportation fuels continue to rise and landfill space in large urban centers is zoned out, there has been renewed interest in assessing other viable, proven, waste management alternatives that are presently available. This paper compares the environmental impacts, as well as the most obvious economic impacts, of local, state-of-the-art facilities that combust MSW and recover electricity, heat, and metals, with the alternative of diesel truck hauling of MSW to distant landfills, as is presently the case for New York City, Toronto, and most other major urban cities." - Jack Lauber; Margretta E. Morris; Priscilla Ulloa; Floyd Hasselriis - 6/21/2006, Air & Waste Management Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana
Comparison of Air Emissions from the Proposed WSREC and Longhaul Landfilling (PDF)"A side-by-side comparison of expected air emissions between a WTE Facility and longhaul landfilling an equivalent quantity of waste, including vehicular emissions associated with both options, indicates that the WTE Facility would be a better choice for minimizing emissions. Despite public perception that the emissions from municipal waste combustion facilities are greater and more harmful than the emissions from landfills, only recently have assessments of landfills begun to analyze emissions other than fugitive emissions from a landfill surface." - Gary G. Pierce - Comparison of Air Emissions from the Proposed WSREC and Longhaul Landfilling
Minimum Dioxin with Maximum Resource Recovery (PDF)"Extensive research has been conducted into the means by which dioxin is formed in, and emitted from, MWC units. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has studied MWC emissions and adopted increasingly stringent emission standards for new and existing MWC’s, in both 1991 and 1995." - Patrick F. Mahoney; Gary G. Pierce; Gordon L. Sutin - 6/2/1997, Dioxin '97 Conference, Bloomington, Indiana
Others' Papers
Health Risks of Lanfilling versus Combustion of Municipal Solid Waste: An Illinois Comparison (PDF)
"Current policy envisions a hierarchy of steps for guiding the management of municipal solid waste (MSW); they are: source reduction, recycling, combustion and landfilling. The last two processes frequently spark public debate about health risks. Intensive efforts to eliminate these steps through recycling have demonstrably resulted in diversions of 50% or less; thus, the hierarchy still includes combustion and landfilling. Mitigation of their impacts on community health is the objective of added laws passed and regulations promulgated over the past decade. Paralleling these control efforts has been the development of multi-pathway assessment methodologies designed to provide at least a standard approach for comparing risks if not a reliable quantitative estimator of absolute risk. This paper updates previous risk-risk comparisons of landfilling vs. combustion of MSW by applying current methodologies to assess the technologies in the context of existing regulation. Risks of either technology fall within the regulatory precedents for acceptability during the operational phase (30 yrs) and the early closure phase (40 years), but the ultimate releases of leachate from the landfill generate potentially large risks over a time interval beyond this horizon." - Alan Eschenroeder and Katherine von Stackelberg - 6/20-24/1999, 92nd Annual Meeting & Exposition of Air & Waste Management Assoc., St. Louis, MO
Re_Covering All the Bases: A Comparison of Landfills and Resource Recovery Facilities in Puerto Rico (PDF)"Every community in the United States, and indeed globally, must decide how to manage its municipal solid waste (MSW). Puerto Rico faces an extraordinary challenge today as it struggles to upgrade its solid waste infrastructure. Full management of MSW includes a mix of materials diversion, source reduction, and disposal activities, with the most appropriate mix depending on local economic, social, political, and environmental conditions." - Marie Lynn Miranda, Ph.D. and Brack Hale, M.E.M. - 6/19/1999, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC
Highlights - Independent Review of Energy Answers Resource Recovery Technology (PDF)"An 'Independent Review of Energy Answers Resource Recovery Technology and its Potential Application in Europe' was conducted by Juniper Consultancy Services Limited, Gloucestershire, England, to assess its capabilities against European regulatory norms, current practices and the competitive performance of typical state-of-the-art facilities in Europe." - Kevin Whiting, B.Eng., C.Eng., PhD, FIChemE - 2/2006, Juniper Consultancy Services Limited, Gloucestershire, England
Greenhouse Gas Dynamics of Municipal Solid Waste Alternatives (PDF)"Replacement of landfills with municipal waste combustors significantly reduces greenhouse gas impacts. Conventional comparisons between these alternatives consider a fixed time horizon, whereas this analysis traces the integrated time history of the emissions over the periods of operation and post-closure years. As greenhouse emissions trading markets mature, communities that switch to the combustor alternative may accrue financial credit that could offset higher amortization and operational charges. Thus, consideration of greenhouse gas reduction benefits adds a new dimension to the economics of solid waste management." - Alan Eschenroeder, Harvard School of Public Health - October 2001, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association