Florida Set To Burn Hurricane Irma Wreckage For Energy

We got really lucky here at YBMW central’s southern HQ in last week’s hurricane. There was a lot of destruction and some of the flooding in parts of Florida aren’t even set to hit their peak until later this week. If there is any good that can be pulled from this weather catastrophe, it might be that some of the reminders of its destruction are being re-purposed as an energy source.

The goal is to burn enough of the trash that’s been created by the storms so that energy can be provided to power 30,000 homes. It’s a good thing they can burn it too, as Florida doesn’t really have the landfill space to accommodate this massive influx of debris. In fact, burning trash to power homes isn’t a new thing in the Sunshine state. In 2016, 10 waste-to-energy plants burned 4.5 million tons of garbage, producing 3.5 million megawatt-hours of power. That comes out to around 2% of Florida’s power needs, and a 90% reduction in the solid waste that would have gone to the landfill.

Source: Inhabitat