Trash: America's best bet for energy independence
It’s clear that as a majorindustrial nation America needs to devour enormous amounts of
energy to survive. It’s also clear America must become energy
independent as soon as possible.
Unlike nuclear power, new methods of turning garbage into
energy actually decrease waste. Is this Back to the
future?
Huge amounts of money are spent daily buying energy from foreign
nations that have no real respect for our well-being. Permitting
America to be dependent on such nations can only lead to
complications, especially during times of economic crisis or
war.
Like the presidents before him, Barack Obama recognizes the need
for US energy independence. In his State of the Union message last
week, he recommended that the US seek alternative energy sources
and apply innovation to creating clean-energy jobs.
To achieve this end, we mustn’t resort to opening more nuclear
power plants, as Obama suggested. The United States doesn’t need to
create radioactive facilities for generating energy. It needs a
practical solution to US foreign-oil dependency, one that actually
decreases rather than increases waste.
Turning trash and commercial waste into electricity
and biofuel has the potential to drastically reduce dependency on
foreign oil. It also has the potential to encourage innovation and
create jobs.
Such a solution is right under our nose. It’s one that doesn’t
depend on high-voltage electric lines; won’t reduce the food supply
like corn ethanol and soybean diesel; and isn’t unreliable like
solar, hydro, and wind energy sources.
The solution to our energy independence is in our garbage
cans.
Back to the future?
Turning garbage into energy calls to mind the 1980s film “Back
to the Future,” which inspired whimsical images of future cars
powered on waste. Since that time, the technology for turning trash
and commercial waste into electricity and biofuel has come a long
way. In just the past decade, research and experimentation has
brought about a cleaner and more efficient conversion system.
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Source: www.csmonitor.com
