We’re all for innovative new forms of fuel. And when there’s a hint of irony, it’s all the better.
Last week, SITA UK, a recycling and waste management company, and the Kirklees Metropolitan Council in Northern England unveiled a garbage truck that runs on power produced by the very garbage it collects.
The truck will gather waste from 25 bins that have been newly installed around town, and transport the trash to the Energy from Waste power station and recycling center. There, the refuse will be burned to produce electricity, which is not only used to recharge the battery-operated electric vehicle overnight, but also contributes about 10 megawatts of power to the municipal electric grid every day.
The truck, a modified Ford Transit, runs on a 40kWh lithium-ion battery pack and can reach 50 mph. It has a range of 100 miles and takes six to eight hours to recharge.
Of course, environment-friendly doesn’t necessarily mean “safe”: because it’s electric, the vehicle is just about silent, and could pose a danger for unaware pedestrians. Residents of this small, already-quiet town might need to start looking before crossing the street: a driver of the truck already admitted two near-misses in one morning.
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February 3rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Makes me wonder what happened to thermal depolymerization. It sounded like a great idea when it made news a few years ago, especially when compared to landfills, but I haven’t seen it go anywhere. It seemed a lot more promising than simply burning trash, with it’s associated nastiness.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
The truck is built by Smith Electric Vehicles. It’s worth taking a look at the Case Studies page on their website http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com to see some of the other uses to which about 400 of these vehicles have been put in the past year or so. In the 85 years they’ve been in business, they have quietly shipped an estimated 70 thousand electric vehicles worldwide!
February 4th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
What is the environmental impact of “burning” garbage to produce electricity?
February 4th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Kirklees argue that their state-of-the-art incinerator (which only burns what cannot be recycled) efficiently restricts emissions.
As someone who closely follows the progress of EVs, I find it quite useful that Smith now have what amounts to a mobile billboard constantly on show in the middle of Huddersfield, where tens of thousands of commuters and shoppers will get to see an electric vehicle in daily use. With “I am an electric vehicle” signwritten on its sides, along with Smith’s website address.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
There’s a company in Boston turning trash into electricity.
The U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) lists 87 municipal waste-to-energy facilities operating in the U.S., primarily in the Northeast. They are able to convert into energy about 13% of the nearly 300 million tons of trash generated by Americans each year.
entire article here:
http://www.livinggreenmag.com/energy.html
February 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
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