The two-day 2008 Energy From Waste (EfW) conference was held at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London, in February 2008. The conference objective was to discuss achieving deliverability in landfill diversion, resource efficiency, and energy security.
The conference featured a number of presentations and an evening debate. Presentation subjects included:
RPS was well represented at the conference, which was attended by waste, water and energy groups including a number of RPS clients. Businesses attending included WRG, Infinis, Veolia, Eon, Biffa Waste Services, IneosChlor, Energos, and EDF Energy.
RPS jointly sponsored the evening debate, which explored the relationship between the management route for waste, carbon outcomes and efficiency. Panel members included representatives from Defra, Veolia, Friends of the Earth, and the waste industry. In addition to being a panel member for the discussions, RPS delivered a presentation on carbon analysis and planning which showcased some of the outputs from the in-house waste carbon model developed by RPS and analysis carried out using the EA WRATE modelling software undertaken by RPS.
RPS’ presentation: Carbon Analysis – a necessary part of waste management, examined the importance of carbon in decision-making. It considered the impact of different waste streams on the carbon content and explored the performance of different waste treatment technologies. The analysis highlighted the significance of certain input assumptions, to illustrate how important these are to the likely conclusions of the waste/carbon analysis, underlining the need for experience in advising on these areas. The presentation went on to evaluate the relative importance of efficiency/energy recovery, siting and transport. It concluded by providing advice for carbon management and waste disposal techniques for both the planner and developer.
A key question raised was whether it is better to bury waste that does not degrade quickly to methane and sacrifice the energy already embedded in the material, or to recover this energy but release carbon dioxide through this process.
While much of the conference highlighted the importance of carbon management through waste management it is clear that carbon management must be considered alongside reliability of technology, efficiency of process, bankability, and other environmental and social considerations. A resounding thought at the end of the conference was that we must stifle innovation and technology development, but we must also consider where we are and how e get to where we want to be in the future – it may be necessary for interim steps to be taken along the way while at the same time building new markets and capacities to continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from waste management.
The conference brought together some of the key players within the waste management industry and it is clear that while carbon emissions are one of a number of important issues facing the sector it is also the issue that is receiving significant attention from government through to the pressure groups and at all levels in between. RPS has been providing integrated advice to the waste sector on carbon emissions and will continue to work with the industry in meeting the challenges posed in practical, innovative and realistic ways.
Click on link below to view RPS presentation from the Energy From Waste 2008 conference:
For more information please contact:
RPS Brighton – Planning & Development
T: +44 (0) 1273 546800
RPS Bristol – Planning & Development
T: +44 (0) 1454 284450