Incineration as an Energy Source
Author
Institution

Abstract
This paper talks about incineration as a method of producing energy. The incineration sector in the country is also analyzed in the paper. The benefits that are associated with the method of incineration are outlined clearly and the costs and effects incurred as a result of incineration are also outlined.
Incineration as an energy source; the pros and cons
Incineration is a waste treatment technology that encompasses burning waste and transforming it into energy (Denilson et al., 1996). The wastes that are subjected to the process of burning can include residential, hazardous and commercial wastes (Denilson et al., 1996). The wastes are burnt in an incinerator which is a large furnace designed for that work. Incineration converts the materials deemed as wastes including paper, metals, plastics and food scraps into fly ash, bottom ash, combustion gases and heat (Denilson et al., 1996). In some instances the heat produced by incineration can be used to create electric power.
In the United States there are a total of 113 incinerators that are working and out of these, 86 are used to produce electricity (Brebbia et al., 2014). The last incinerator in US was built in the year 1997 and ever since there has been no new incinerator built (Brebbia et al., 2014). The reasons for the halt in building incinerators in US was due to the public opposition regarding the costs of building, identified health risks and environmental pollution it causes and the increase of other practices like composting and recycling (Brebbia et al., 2014). Incineration is a very effective method in eliminating the wastes that would have been deposited on land and creating energy that can be used in various sectors like electricity generation.
In as much incineration is used as a source of energy making, it poses great risk to the health of the citizens and also degradation of the natural environment due to the emission of thousands of pollutants that contaminate the air, soil and water (Brebbia et al., 2014). This contamination has adverse effects on the environment and this can lead to death of sea animals due to the pollution of the water. The citizens can contract respiratory related problem due to the contaminated air and also the forest cover and other plants can die and be eroded due to the soil contamination by the pollutants from incineration(Brebbia et al., 2014). Other energy conservation methods like recycling should be preferred to incineration when it comes to analyzing the effects that the method has on the environment (Habib et al., 2013). Incineration has both pros and cons that are associated with it as will be analyzed in this paper.
Pros of incineration
Incineration greatly reduces the volume of waste materials that are supposed to be to fill plots (Denilson et al., 1996). The wastes will instead be taken to the incinerators where they will undergo the processes of burning to produce other forms of energy. In this scenario the land that was to be set aside as fill plots will be saved and be used other purposes that are constructive and will be beneficial to the citizens. The reduction in wastes also means reduction in land fill treatment fee; the money saved will be channeled to other important sectors and projects (Denilson et al., 1996). When there are small wastes available at the landfills then it automatically translates to less risks of generation of toxic substances that come out of landfills that have a lot of wastes (Denilson et al., 1996). The toxic substances often pollute the air and also the soil and this contamination is harmful to the citizens and environment in general.
Incineration plants can be located in close proximity to the areas of service which will make it cost effective for the transportation of the wastes up to the plants (Morris et al., 1996). This will greatly be economical and the time and money that would have been wasted could be channeled in other areas for conservation of the environment. Incineration plants can also operate 24 hours a day and this now signifies that the amount of wastes disposed in a day is very large and this minimizes the pilling of wastes awaiting disposal (Morris et al., 1996). The pilling of wastes is very costly since they have to be treated in order not to produce toxic substances that pollute the environment. Incineration is advantageous because the plants can operate in any weather so there is no shut down or halt to the process when there is bad weather (Morris et al., 1996). This makes it a very effective method of getting rid of the wastes.
Incineration generates electricity and heat. The size of electricity made from anarchetypal 100,000tpa facility would be roughly the same to the electricity consumption of 20,000 households and would be exported to the national grid (Brebbia et al., 2014). The heat produced by the plant could be used in industrial heating schemes and this would greatly save the industries the cost of generating heat using other costly methods (Brebbia et al., 2014). The country can also earn revenue from the sale of electricity and heat that is produced from the incineration plants. The country will sell the electricity and heat to the countries that have difficulties in producing energy (Brebbia et al., 2014).
Majority of the incinerators reach temperatures which can completely destroy very harmful pathogens and chemicals which cannot be destroyed with other methods (Habib et al., 2013). This is the main reason incineration is the procedure used in dealing with clinical wastes (Habib et al., 2013). There are minimal accidents that occur in the plant during the process of incineration and this is due to the safety precautions that were taken during the building of the incinerators. In terms of the safety and health of workers onsite, incineration is the best alternative compared to other methods (Denilson et al., 1996).
Cons of Incineration
All incinerators pose considerable risk to the health and environment of the neighboring communities where they are located as well as the general population (Habib et al., 2013). Incinerators release thousands of pollutants that contaminate the soil, air and water (Habib et al., 2013). Majority of these pollutants enter the food supply and concentrate through the food chain and this causes a great risk to the health of the citizens who consume the food (Brebbia et al., 2014). People living near incinerators are always at high risk of exposure to dioxins and other contaminants from air pollution (Brebbia et al., 2014). This will cause the citizens to develop respiratory diseases due to inhalation of the contaminated air. The New York Department of Conservation found that the State’s incinerators emit up to 14 times mercury as compared to the coal-fired power plants (Brebbia et al., 2014). This shows that the incinerators are very hazardous to the environment as mercury is known to be a very deadly product which can result to complications on the body systems of the people who breathe and take it in their bodies (Habib et al., 2013). A portion of the mercury that goes into the soil will cause to suffocation of plants and trees and this can erode the green cover of the country and this will impact negatively on the environment at large.
Incineration is the most expensive method to generate energy and handle waste, while it also creates significant economic burdens to the country (Brebbia et al., 2014). According to research carried out, the projected capitals cost of creating a new waste incinerator facility is twice the amount used in creating a coal-fired power and 60% more than the cost used in creating a nuclear energy plant (Brebbia et al., 2014). This shows the strain that the country will undergo in creating the incinerator and the vast amount of money the tax payer will have to pay for the construction of an incinerator plant. The cost of maintenance and operations for an incinerator plant is ten times more than the coal-fired and four times that of a nuclear plant (Brebbia et al., 2014). The establishment and smooth operations of the incinerator plants is quite costly and this is one great limitation that it is attached to it and makes other methods preferred to it.
The incineration plant brings many problems to the city where it is located. There will always be increased traffic in the city and this is because of the transportation of wastes into the plant (Brebbia et al., 2014). The City is always associated with unpleasant smells which make life there very difficult (Brebbia et al., 2014). This actually causes revolt from the residents where an incinerator is located as many of them always want the plants relocated to another locality. The environment that the incinerator causes can scare away investors from the City or even scare away the people and cause massive migration and this will affect the development of the City where the incinerator is built.
Incineration always leads to the wastage of important natural resources which can be of beneficial use to the country (Habib et al., 2013). The natural resources always end up in smoke or end up as part of the resultant ash that is produced as a result of incineration (Habib et al., 2013). The important resources are metals, glass and plastics that are always burnt during the process of incineration (Habib et al., 2013). The wastage of such resources will cause a very negative and adverse effect on the environment in the ways like increased mining to substitute the lost resources and increased energy expenditure to process and construct new resources (Habib et al., 2013). Increased mining leads to more land pollution and degradation of the environment (Habib et al., 2013). During mining, particulate matter which can be composed of materials such as lead and cadmium are released into the air and this release will contaminate the air and affect the air quality (Habib et al., 2013). Mining can also cause physical alterations to the landscape that may lead to the decline of plant species in the area (Habib et al., 2013). This will in turn lead to the erosion of the cover that beautifies the land. Mining can also lead to great water pollution causing harm to the sea animals and affecting the domestic water supply of the area (Habib et al., 2013). The increased energy use in making other resources means increased fossil fuel which in turn increases greenhouse gas emissions which will increase the overall temperatures to great levels (Habib et al., 2013).
Incineration is a massive waste of energy method as compared to other methods of creating energy (Brebbia et al., 2014). Incinerators are able to create very small amounts of energy while destroying a vast amount of wastes (Brebbia et al., 2014. Recent study indicates that the amount of energy used by one incineration plant is equivalent to the energy used by 15 medium-sized power plants (Brebbia et al., 2014). This clearly shows that the efficiency rates of the incineration plants is quite low and it is better to use other methods such as recycling and composition. The energy that is wasted in the plants can be used in much more useful work that generates benefits to the country.
Burning wastes contributes greatly to the climate change that is experienced in United States. The incinerators emit vast amount of carbon dioxide and other pollutants that contaminate the environment and ozone layer leading to climate change and global warming (Habib et al., 2013). Global warming and the climate change have very adverse effects on the environment as will be seen: * Accelerating sea level rise and increased coastal flooding (Habib et al., 2013). The climate change and global warming cause the alignment of the sea level to be altered due to the melting ice bergs and this will increase the level thus causing floods at the coastal areas and this will cause destruction of the properties along the coast and this will be very costly to the country and the government (Habib et al., 2013). * The increased temperatures cause wildfires that go for days and are very damaging (Habib et al., 2013). This is caused by the more than normal high spring temperature that is caused by the alteration of the environment by the pollutants emitted by the incinerators (Habib et al., 2013). This leads to forests that are drier and can be easily ignited and spread very far. The climate change also causes widespread forest deaths due to the excessive heat that is experienced due to the climate change (Habib et al., 2013). * The climate change caused by the pollutants from the plants will cause more frequent and intense heat waves that can lead to heat stroke, heat exhaustion and critical medical conditions to the people (Habib et al., 2013). This is possible due to the destroyed natural environment. * Climate change causes severe droughts in some parts of the country (Habib et al., 2013). As the pollutants are released into the air, they alter the precipitation cycle and this will cause lack of rains in some areas for a prolonged time leading to severe droughts (Habib et al., 2013). The droughts will affect the supply of food in the country and this will lead to a great famine in some areas of the country.
Incineration is a rigid method of creating energy which does not change with the changing times. The rigidity is the main cause of all the negative effects it has on the environment. Incineration just deals with burning the wastes whether it is useful waste or useless waste. This in turn causes wastage of resources in making new items that the burnt items could have made. Rigidity of operations is one of the many limitations that incineration has.
Incineration is an effective way of getting rid of wastes that would instead have accumulated in the fill lands and cause hazardous effects (Morris et al., 1996). The method is also effective in producing electricity when the amount of wastes that are burnt is enormous. This is an energy making method that has been researched and proven to be working (Morris et al., 1996). Despite all this, the method is not very effective as compared to other methods that are used in producing energy. This is because the costs of running incineration are quite high as compared to other methods like recycling: it requires large amount of capital in order for the incinerator to be quite effective (Morris et al., 1996). Another major reason is that the incineration process has a very negative impact on the environment that is the air, water and land (Morris et al., 1996). This is caused by the vast amounts of pollutants emitted by the incinerators during the process. Incineration is an effective method of energy creation but there are other more effective methods than it.

References
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Habib, K., Schmidt, J. H., & Christensen, P. (2013). A historical perspective of Global Warming Potential from Municipal Solid Waste Management. Waste management (New York, NY), 33(9), 1926-1933.
Morris, J. (1996). Recycling versus incineration: an energy conservation analysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 47(1), 277-293.