Energy from Municipal Solid Waste: An Economic Analysis

Abstract

In the 1970’s, the United States Government policy was to encourage the use of municipal solid waste (MSW) as boiler fuel for electrical utilities. This policy was based on the simple observation that electrical utility generation was the largest consumer of solid fuel in the country, indeed directing all the MSW as boiler fuel for electrical generation would only produce about 3% of the power sold by electric utilities. A deeper analysis of the technical and economic factors showed that electrical generating stations were not the appropriate way to reclaim energy from municipal solid waste. However, the boilers of industrial plants were a more logical target of government programs to reclaim the energy from this source.

Originally presented at the Second World Energy Engineering Congress, held in Atlanta, Georgia on October 29, 1979 (Revised). The author wrote this paper while he was employed with the Department of Environmental Protection, of the State of New Jersey.