Trash to Treasure

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or in the case of biomass, possibly everyone’s treasure. Biomass, which consists of anything from household garbage to yard clippings or wood waste, is becoming big business. The search for alternative fuel sources has led energy experts to the waste can, and for good reason, it’s plentiful and it’s cheap. But not all garbage is created equal. Biomass from wood waste or grass clippings is essentially carbon neutral, meaning it doesn’t add to greenhouse gases. However, plastic waste that’s been made by a fossil fuel will release quite a bit of carbon leaving a King Kong size footprint. There are several biomass plants across the nation and some have been producing energy since the 1980’s. According to the Energy Information Administration more than half of our nation’s renewable energy in 2007 was produced from biomass. Gives one pause as they take out the daily garbage; you may just be furnishing the energy to light up your neighborhood some day.