Category: Particles

Nearly all of the carbon content in incinerated waste is emitted to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Municipal solid waste contains approximately the same mass fraction of carbon as does carbon dioxide itself (27%), so incineration of 1 tonne of waste is estimated to produce approximately 1 tonne of carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide emitted by human activity is of course the main cause of global warming leading to climate change. Under the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by at least 80% by 2050. In 1990, emissions from energy consumption were 10.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita, so the target is slightly over 2 tonnes per capita.

In 2011, UK emissions from energy consumption were 8 tonnes per capita, the reduction from 1990 largely due to the replacement of coal by gas in electricity generation. The Exeter Incinerator is designed to accept up to 60,000 tonnes per year of waste, from Exeter and the immediate surrounding area in Devon. With a population of about 120,000, that means 0.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide added to every person’s carbon budget. But suppose the Incinerator replaced some carbon emissions from other energy plant……

Incinerators have electricity generation efficiencies of 14-28%. The waste heat can be used in a district heating network, giving efficiencies higher than 80%. The Exeter Incinerator will initially provide electricity to the national grid, and has the potential to export heat but only if a district heating network is established on the Marsh Barton estate.

So the Incinerator will produce electricity at a substantially lower efficiency than the rest of the national grid, and displace lower carbon alternatives.