Harnessing Our Waste

Many conversations that I have had about current world issues lately have come back around to the idea of globalization. The system of globalization is the result of wide-spread hunger for instant gratification with disregard for possible long-term consequences. Even the way we have set up our small towns has employed the immediate gratification mentality, and now, as we are learning more about the effects we are having on the environment and seeing ways we can change, it's hard not to look back and wonder why no one put these changes into effect in the first place. 

One big improvement we could make is the harnessing of waste energy. My parents are involved in a project with the city of Burlington that is working to take the energy that is wasted at the electricity producing McNeil power plant, and use it to heat homes and businesses in the area. The plant uses sustainably, locally harvested wood to fuel its productivity, which is great, but there is also a lot of heat that doesn't get used. Currently, the heat that doesn't get used in the process of producing electricity, gets cooled with water and then released into the atmosphere. Wouldn't it be great if, instead of just increasing our carbon footprint, we actually had a use for this waste? In theory, there is enough wasted now to heat most of the buildings in the Old North End for nearly nothing (of course there is the cost of installing new pipes all throughout the ground in that section of town). This is, both socially and environmentally, the right thing to do. The number of people in the part of town (which is one of the poorest parts of Burlington), that would be affected by this would have the relief of not having a gas bill, AND we would not be burning up precious resources twice when we have the option of burning them up only once. It is a win-win, which is why I can't imagine why every power plant wasn't initially built with this idea in place, or at least why they aren't NOW incorporating it everywhere. Much of Scandinavia uses this as a resource and it is becoming more common in China as well. I think it is time for the U.S. to jump on board, it would be a very worthwhile investment.