Garbage into Electricity

According to the AP, a company in Florida has a grand plan to generate electricity by vaporizing garbage. Geoplasma, a sister company of Jacoby Development Inc, says the $425million plasma arc gasification facility in St.Lucie County will be the first in the nation and the largest in the world.

While trash to power is not a new idea, supporters say the process is cleaner than traditional trash incineration. The facility, which is expected to be operational in two years, will generate heat hotter than part of sun's surface and will gasify and melt garbage by using high pressure air to form plasma. It's a process similar to how lightning is formed in nature.

The 100,000-square-foot plant is planned to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate their entire landfill of 4.3 million tons of trash will be gone in 18 years.

"It addresses two of the world's largest problems -- how to deal with solid waste and the energy needs of our communities," an official said. "This is the end of the rainbow. It will change the world."

Jin Yanni

(Resource: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/10/ap/tech/mainD8K1N66O2.shtml)