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Renewable Energy
Trash Into Gas Efficiently_ An Army Test May Tell – NYTimes.pdf
Download PDF : Trash Into Gas Efficiently_ An Army Test May Tell – NYTimes
The future China chooses will dictate the future of the planet
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/china-future-renewables-global-warming
The future China chooses will dictate the future of the planet
China is the largest contributor to global warming and also the biggest investor in renewables. The future it chooses will affect us all, writes Georg Kell
Because of its size and enromous growth, China is the world’s largest contributor to global warming, as well as the biggest investor in renewables. Photograph: Tim Graham/Tim Graham/Getty Images
The call by the Chinese government for an “ecological civilisation” which aims to control pollution and greenhouse gas emissions may sound like just another party slogan to the casual observer from outside the country.
But there is little doubt that China is serious about changing course. Environmental concerns have become a national priority, and business will play its part.
Recently I joined enterprises belonging to the Global Compact Network China at a summit they convened on Caring for Climate. In collaboration with various business and civil society associations, they pledged to do their part for the environment. Commitments were issued to implement restrictions on pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and to undertake specific measures collectively. Some firms had already stepped forward with concrete campaigns, such as Sinopec’s “blue sky – clean water” initiative.
The presence of high-level government officials from various departments left little doubt that these initiatives are serious, and that a profound change of course is underway. The commitments signed at the summit will also be submitted to Chinese authorities at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit this September, and to the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw in November.
A number of pressures feed into the gravity with which both business and government, from their respective standpoints, regard the linked issues of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
In terms of the economy, Chinese government reports consistently place the cost of pollution as more than 3% of GDP. The World Bank has estimated the negative impact of pollution combined with resource depletion at close to 10% of GDP.
In terms of the wellbeing of the population, air pollution is widely recognised as a serious health as well as quality of life issue, one that may be taking years away from the life expectancy of city dwellers. It also discourages domestic enterprises as well as foreign investors from setting up headquarters or operation centres in Chinese cities. Other types of pollution, such as runoff from industrial or chemical plants, are now also being recognised as threats to rural areas and farming, as well as to urban domains. The safety and quality of food grown in China has also become a serious concern of the Chinese population.
Responding to the Global Compact about corporate sustainability priorities in the decades that follow the conclusion of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, firms from the China Network firms prominently cited climate change and the urgent need to follow a “green” development path that places a premium on high efficiency of energy use, low pollution and low emissions. Several corporate leaders remarked that they saw poor air quality as tantamount to a human rights issue.
Because of its size and remarkable growth over the past two decades, China is already the world’s largest contributor to global warming – though on a per capita basis, CO2 emissions are still around half the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. As several hundred million people have yet to be integrated into a modern way of life, energy demand and environmental issues are bound to grow in tandem.
Deploying the latest technologies and improving energy efficiency across all economic activities are likely to remain at a priority level for years to come. Equally important will be the use of renewables and whatever other innovations may lead to a low-carbon economy.
Already China is by far the biggest investor in renewables, and several pilot projects for carbon exchanges are under construction. A national carbon market, or a resource tax system favouring green investment, is a distinct possibility within the near future. China’s vulnerable ecology and dependence on energy imports both make such moves likely.
The daunting challenges are clearly understood by China’s leadership, and business has heard the call. Whether or not China will succeed in becoming a world leader in low-carbon market development is of fundamental importance for the whole planet. Well on its way to become the world’s largest economy, the future of China and the future of the globe now are intimately linked. If China succeeds, the world’s chances go up accordingly.
Georg Kell is executive director of United Nations Global Compact
China to invest in energy saving industries to tackle pollution
China to invest in energy saving industries to tackle pollution
China’s State Council announces plans to make green industries central to the economy by 2015
China is to invest in energy saving technologies including solar energy in an attempt to tackle pollution. Photograph: Chris Ison/PA
China is to fast-track expansion and investment in energy saving technologies in an attempt to tackle its worsening pollution problems.
China’s cabinet, the State Council announced plans on Sunday to make the energy saving sector a “pillar” of the economy by 2015. In a statement the council said that under the new plan the environmental protection sector will grow by 15% on average annually, reaching an output of 4.5 trillion yuan (£474 billion).
China’s massive economic growth has come at a major cost to its environment and even its environmental ministry has described the country’s environmental situation as “grim”.
Under the plan, environmental protection industries will receive funding from the government in an effort to stimulate technological innovation. The funding will cover a wide range of technologies that address air, water and soil pollution including energy saving products, waste disposal, electric vehicles and pollution monitoring.
Many analysts welcomed the plan and some were quoted in the Chinese media as saying that it will create opportunities for investors and will give direction to the industry.
“It’s good to see this and it’s an indication that development of environmental protection and energy saving industry is a priority, since it’s coming from the State Council,” said Alvin Lin, China Climate and Energy Policy Director with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Beijing. The plan also includes policies, standards, pilot programmes, financing mechanisms and incentives, emissions and carbon trading said Lin.
However Lin believes that the plan is “vulnerable to being so broad as to be lacking focus and hard to implement.
“I think it could discuss more on the importance of implementing standards and policies in order to create the demand for the energy saving and environmental protection market, and the importance of accurate measurement and public reporting to ensure standards are met,” he said.
Ailun Yang, a senior associate with the World Resources Institute, said the initiative is “encouraging”. “It shows the ambition of the Chinese government to tackle its growing environmental problems while making the country the world’s biggest manufacturer of the environmental protection technologies.” She added however that more details need to be known before it is possible to assess the effectiveness of the new plan.
Tackling pollution has been a priority of the new administration under Xi Jinping, especially as pollution has become a major concern among Chinese citizens and is one of the main causes of social unrest. In an effort to tackle the problem, China has also committed to reducing its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 from 2005 levels and is aiming to increase renewable energy to 15% of its total energy consumption.
“Going forward, I think it would be important to develop a yearly inventory of various energy saving and emissions reduction products and services to get a more accurate idea of the growing size of the industry and the economic value and green jobs created, to demonstrate the economic benefits of improving the environment,” said Lin.
The announcement that funding will be available to environmental protection industries may help China’s ailing solar industry. In recent years the Chinese solar industry has been struggling with overcapacity, international trade disputes and slowing global demand.
“The problem with the solar industry is that China didn’t have a strong domestic market while the manufacturing capacity of the Chinese solar industry was overwhelming,” said Yang. The new plan should prioritise creating an “enabling environment and support the development of domestic market,” she said.
Trash talking
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Blowing in the wind
Wednesday, 14 March, 2007, 12:00am
Beijing sees vast potential in the power of wind to help it meet power needs, but the cost of tapping it is another matter, writes Tom Miller
When Premier Wen Jiabao called for the development of ‘environmentally friendly technologies’ and ‘clean production’ in his work report last week, he might have been talking about Dongshan Island.
Perched on the southern coast of Fujian , overlooking the Taiwan Strait, Dongshan is the mainland’s favourite spot for staging mock invasions across the water. But the island is also the perfect place for harnessing one of the country’s greatest and most underused natural resources: wind.
At the end of a rutted dirt track surrounded by rows of green crops hand-tended by farmers in conical hats, 15 sleek white towers are planted firmly in the sand above the beach. The rhythmic swoosh from the turbine blades, now powering the light bulbs and televisions in local farmers’ homes, is barely audible above the waves crashing on the shore below.
Dongshan wind farm is the coal-free cutting edge of China’s power industry. The country may no longer be the sick man of Asia but it’s the filthiest: it burns more coal than any other nation, and relies on the fuel for about 70 per cent of its energy needs.
In 2005, China burned more than 1.2 billion tonnes of coal and emitted more carbon dioxide than the whole of Europe. As the mainland’s cheapest and most secure energy resource, coal will remain the nation’s primary electricity-generating source for the foreseeable future.
China’s leadership knows, however, that its present energy model is unsustainable and – despite the struggle to enforce environmental policies and energy efficiency targets at the local level – the central government is doing more than many other countries to promote green energy sources.
The Renewable Energy Law, for example, was one of the most comprehensive pieces of renewable energy legislation to be passed anywhere in the world, said Jan Hamrin, executive director of the Centre for Resource Solutions in Washington, DC.
The law, which came into effect on January 1 last year, sets out a legally binding development plan for promoting green energy and encourages the construction of renewable power facilities across the country. It mandates power grid operators to purchase all electricity generated from renewable sources, with the extra cost to be spread evenly among consumers.
Beijing’s target is that 16 per cent of primary energy should come from renewable sources by 2020, up from 6 per cent today, with spending on alternative energy set to top 1.5 trillion yuan. Most of the electricity produced by renewable sources will come from hydro, biomass and wind – but the fastest- growing is wind power.
China’s wind energy potential is huge. The China Academy of Meteorological Sciences estimates the country possesses a total of 235 gigawatts of practical onshore wind power potential. Offshore potential – much more expensive to harness – is estimated at 750 gigawatts.
In theory, China could meet its entire projected electricity demand for 2020 from wind. Wind resources are concentrated along the east coast – from Liaoning in the north to Guangdong in the south – and across the northern grasslands and Gobi desert, from Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang .
At the end of last year China had 1.6 gigawatts of installed capacity – twice 2005’s figure – ranking fifth globally. By 2020, China plans to increase capacity to 30 gigawatts, which may place it first in the world.
‘The government’s target might even be exceeded,’ said Lars Andersen, managing director of Vestas China, the local subsidiary of Danish wind equipment-maker Vestas Wind System, which supplies the turbines on Dongshan Island. ‘The political will means it is very likely to happen.’
But wind power has one major problem: the exorbitant cost of power generation. At 0.5-0.6 yuan per kilowatt hour, real costs are roughly twice those of electricity produced in a conventional coal-fired power plant.
Moreover, wind farms are not as reliable as traditional power plants. Vestas’ turbines need a wind speed of 4 metres per second to produce power, and 15 metres per second to reach maximum output of two megawatts. The Dongshan turbines are active for roughly 35 per cent of the year, which is considered good for an onshore site.
In an effort to make wind power economically competitive with conventional sources, the government launched a project in 2004 to encourage developers to build large-capacity wind farms that achieve economies of scale. The ‘wind concession’ system, planners hope, will make wind power a commercially viable technology.
Under the concession system, all projects with a capacity of 100 megawatts undergo a competitive tendering process in which potential developers bid to sell electricity from the project at the lowest price. The winner signs a fixed, long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the local power grid.
The advantages of the concession system for the developers are that they know precisely what price they will get for their electricity, thus minimising risk in recovering investment costs.
The rub of the system, however, is that competitive bidding forces developers to price electricity unrealistically low, sometimes barely above the cost of production. Since competitive bidding was introduced, the average tariff has nearly halved.
Average internal rates of return on wind power projects are between 6 per cent and 9 per cent, well below the 12 per cent profit generally required by foreign investors. The upshot is that experienced foreign developers do not bother to submit bids.
In the past few years, competition in the sector has pushed wind electricity tariffs down to barely viable levels – though the cost of buying the electricity still remains high compared to energy generated by burning coal.
There is evidence that developers are bidding aggressively for projects with a view to selling carbon credits under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism.
JP Morgan analysts Edmond Lee and Boris Kan say that some wind developers are betting on carbon trading to make the industry more profitable in the long term.
Depending on the price of carbon, they say, selling carbon credits may more than double current rates of return. ‘It’s a new industry and many power operators are happy to pay a high price for an entry ticket, even if that behaviour may look irrational,’ said Mr Lee. ‘Carbon credits are one of the reasons why operators are willing to go in at such low tariff levels. Without carbon credits there are a number of wind projects that would be even less profitable than they are today.’
At present 20 Chinese wind farms have been approved by the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism executive board to sell carbon credits on the international market, which is based in London.
Most wind power developers, however, are subsidiaries of large state-owned utilities that can afford to lose money if it means gaining access to the wind market. Vestas’ partner at Dongshan, for example, is Longyuan Power, a subsidiary of state power giant China Guodian.
Wang Wanxing, programme officer for electric utilities and renewable energy at the Energy Foundation, a US non-government organisation, said market access was a key consideration for the big utilities, which will be required to buy 5 per cent of their total output from renewable energy sources by 2010, rising to 10 per cent by 2020.
From the government’s short-term perspective, the concession system is a success because wind energy is growing both quickly and cheaply. But some industry experts argue that competitive bidding is not conducive to the healthy development of wind power in the longer term. ‘It would be helpful for the wind industry to have a defined and rational wind tariff structure that would reward technology developers and investors alike,’ said Alan Sides, Asia manager for GE Energy.
In theory, large concession projects requiring many big turbines should be a boon for foreign makers. In 2005, 90 per cent of China’s large-capacity wind turbine generators had to be imported. Yet meagre profits mean that few wind farm developers want to pay for expensive foreign technology. Vestas supplies turbines to just one concession project: ‘We felt we couldn’t be competitive in the bidding for concession projects,’ said Mr Andersen.
Domestic manufacturers, moreover, are beginning to catch up. Although the top Chinese wind turbine maker, Goldwind Technology, only manufactures 600 and 750 kilowatt turbines – much smaller than Vestas’ two-megawatt turbines on Dongshan Island – it has plans to introduce a new generation of much larger turbines.
The government’s requirement that 70 per cent of wind power equipment must be manufactured domestically has also boosted the fortunes of domestic turbine makers. Goldwind’s market share shot up from 20 per cent in 2005 to 33 per cent last year, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
‘Local manufacturers are much cheaper than we are, and some do a good job, but we are not competing on price only. Fortunately, the market is so big that there is room for both local and international players,’ said Vestas’ Mr Andersen.
But other market watchers are less optimistic about the outlook for foreign turbine manufacturers. ‘There’s going to be a race to the bottom,’ said Stephen Terry of Azure International, a Beijing-based investment firm that specialises in renewable technologies.
‘A lot of people will lose money making turbines in China, just as they did in the auto industry and every other industry in China.’
Topics:
Environment
Energy
Environment
China
China
Sustainability
Energy
Source URL (retrieved on Aug 11th 2013, 10:24pm): http://www.scmp.com/article/584960/blowing-wind
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Waste2Tricity announce first UK project | 2012 | scrap-ex
http://www.scrap-ex.com/waste_to_energy/2012/waste2tricity_announce_first_uk_project.html
Waste2Tricity announce first UK project
by Paul Sanderson
A 10.2MW gasification facility has been announced as Waste2Tricity’s first UK project.
The company plans to situate the plant at Bilsthorpe Industrial Park, Nottinghamshire, which is the site of the old Bilsthorpe Colliery.
It will be working with the owner of the land Peel Environmental, along with engineering associates AMEC and Foster Wheeler.
In a statement, Waste2Tricity said: “Our research has shown an abundance of available waste feedstock sources in the local region, meaning the fuel for this power station will be locally derived and negate the need to transport material over long distances. This is beneficial from both a cost and carbon emissions reduction point of view.
“The Bilsthorpe project is based on the Waste2Tricity technology template. This involves using waste derived feedstock to generate synthesis gas (syngas) through plasma gasification.
“This syngas will then be passed through various clean-up processes before exporting 10.2MW of electricity to the national grid from internal combustion engines. This template is an alternative to more traditional energy from waste ventures such as incineration.
“Also, in line with the Waste2Tricity technology template, the Bilsthorpe project is being developed to be fuel cell ready, with plans in place to pilot around 1MW of AFC Energy’s Alkaline Fuel Cells on the site once they have reached commerciality.
“This process will involve the production of hydrogen from syngas, which will then be used to generate highly efficient (above 55 per cent) low carbon electricity. The fuel cell model will be deployed in the future by Waste2Tricity, replacing the internal combustion engines in further projects. This will be a game-changing power station template in the energy from waste sector.”
7th Heaven Properties Appointed to Source Site for $300 Million Caribbean Clean Energy Plant
Published On: Fri, Jul 12th, 2013
7th Heaven Properties Appointed to Source Site for $300 Million Caribbean Clean Energy Plant
Caribbean real estate specialists 7th Heaven Properties exclusively appointed by Cahill Energy to source sites across the Caribbean and Central America to build a $300 million (USD) plant to transform household waste into clean, renewable energy
LONDON – London-based 7th Heaven Properties, specialists in residential and commercial Caribbean real estate, has been exclusively appointed by Cahill Energy to source and evaluate sites across the Caribbean Basin region to build a $300 million (USD) Waste to Energy plant utilising the most innovative technology available to transform all kinds of waste into clean, renewable energy.
Cahill Energy, which was established to finance, build, own and operate utility-scale Waste to Energy plants in key markets, has appointed 7th Heaven Properties to initiate a search across the Caribbean islands and Central America for the ideal site which would provide a leading edge, environmentally sound solution to two of the region’s most pressing challenges: waste management and energy security.
Landfill is currently the most commonly used waste disposal method in the Caribbean and Central America, but with waste generation rates rapidly rising as a result of population growth, urbanization and economic development, many landfill sites across the region are reaching capacity. With the Caribbean Basin region producing approximately 60 million tonnes of solid waste each year, Governments recognise that more efficient, sustainable and environmentally-friendly waste management and disposal solutions are required as a matter of urgency.
Most Caribbean and Central American countries and territories also face an energy security challenge. Largely reliant on imported sources of fossil fuels to meet soaring demand for energy, they are vulnerable to fluctuating energy prices and struggling to meet renewable energy targets.
Cahill Energy’s Waste to Energy technology represents a solution to both these challenges. Across Europe, where Waste to Energy goes hand in hand with waste minimisation and recycling initiatives, waste is commonly diverted away from landfill sites to about 400 plants in countries such as Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. A continuous stream of new sites is coming on line in Europe, as well as China, Japan and India. Sweden has even begun importing garbage from neighbouring European countries which is transformed into clean, renewable energy to power homes.
Cahill Energy plans to invest $300 million (USD) of its own funds in the development of a Waste to Energy plant utilising proven, patented Waste to Energy technology already in use in 4 commercial facilities worldwide; with additional plants under construction in the UK and China. Using plasma gasification technology (the most effective and environmentally friendly method of waste treatment available) the plant would transform almost all kinds of solid waste into clean, renewable energy, providing a new domestic energy source for the selected location and reducing reliance on imported fuel. Unlike landfill, incineration and other less efficient Waste to Energy technology in use elsewhere, plasma gasification produces almost zero emissions.
Walter Zephirin, Managing Director of 7th Heaven Properties, commented: “We are delighted to have been appointed by Cahill Energy and to be working with Cahill on realising a clean, green solution to the Caribbean’s waste management and energy security challenges – issues of critical importance to sustainable development and economic growth in the Caribbean.”
Clare Cowan CEO of Cahill Energy added: “I am delighted to be working closely with 7th Heaven Properties, our exclusive representative, to develop opportunities for us to invest in the Caribbean region. We consider that the Caribbean has considerable potential as it has both major challenges in reducing waste going to landfill and a recognised need for renewable energy.”
Towards a zero waste society: An interview with Rolf Stein
http://www.eco-business.com/news/towards-zero-waste-society-interview-rolf-stein/
Towards a zero waste society: An interview with Rolf Stein
Advanced Plasma Power chief executive Rolf Stein shares with Eco-Business how the British firm is focused on bringing innovative waste-to-energy technologies into the mainstream to maximise the value of waste while reducing its impact on the environment
Advanced Plasma Power’s chief executive officer Rolf Stein. Image: APP
Rolf Stein is, in his own words, a dad and concerned citizen. He left a cushy job at Hewlett Packard and Apple to join the growing waste to energy and renewable power generation industries to help the environment.
He says he is applying his experience in information technology to technology for sustainability. So since working in the plasma industry in 2006, he rose from commercial director of Tetronics International and Advanced Plasma Power (APP) to chief operating officer, and now to chief executive officer of APP.
In his position, he is intent on furthering the mission of the UK-based firm, which is to maximise the value waste provides while minimising the impact of waste on the environment.
APP, he explains, can address the world’s problems of increasing volumes of waste, increasing landfill levels and decreasing fossil fuel resources. The company has developed a zero-waste and highly efficient waste to energy process that converts discarded material into a clean, hydrogen-rich synthesis gas or syngas. Called ‘Gasplasma’ technology, it is a patented process that does not require combustion or incineration like most waste management solutions that only add to greenhouse gas emissions. With APP’s Gasplasma technology, even leftover ash is processed into a useable product for construction.
APP is also pioneering the development of cost-effective hydrogen from syngas, which can revolutionise several industries, he says, as this helps mitigate the fluctuation of gas pricing and supply.
In this interview, Stein tells Eco-Business why he considers APP a game changer and why the waste to energy sector in Asia has a lot to offer.
Advanced Plasma Power started only in 2005, so it’s a fairly new company. How did the business begin?
Tetronics, the sister company to Advanced Plasma Power, developed the Gasplasma process for the recovery of heat and power from municipal and commercial waste. Following this, InvestSelect spun off (seeded) Advanced Plasma Power Limited (APP) in 2005 as the exclusive licensee of Tetronics’ Gasplasma technology, in order to develop renewable power generation projects. APP now owns the Gasplasma technology and associated intellectual property.
To give you some background, Tetronics is a specialist British engineering company recognised as a world leader in high temperature plasma technology. The company has a successful track record, and has deployed its patented plasma technology – a key component in APP’s Gasplasma process – in over 80 installations around the world. Tetronics’ plasma technology has been used at very large scale in a range of applications, including hazardous waste treatment and metal recovery.
What is plasma technology exactly? And how does the waste to energy process work?
Gasplasma is a unique combination of two proven technologies: gasification and plasma conversion. The gasifier transforms the organic material in the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) into a crude syngas containing tars and chars. It does this by heating the RDF to a high temperature, around 800°C, in a highly controlled reduced oxygen environment. The fluidised bed gasifier allows for the production of a consistent syngas and achieves high conversion efficiencies.
The crude syngas is then passed into the separate plasma conversion unit. Here, intense heat from the plasma arc is required to crack the chars and tars. However, Gasplasma is one of, if not, the most efficient processes on the market. The cracking then creates a clean syngas.
Right now, as populations and waste levels rise, and competition for fossil fuels increase, we are left facing a double-edged problem: rising landfill levels and limited fossil fuel reserves are placing a combined strain on the environment, infrastructure and budgets.
But our next-generation two-stage thermal process is the answer to this problem. Like what I explained earlier, it converts residual commercial and municipal waste into a clean and consistent quality synthesis gas, which can then be used to fuel gas engine power plants or converted to create substitute natural gas or other fuels, such as hydrogen. The process generates no-waste outputs as any ash is vitrified into an environmentally stable and saleable construction product, which we call Plasmarok.
APP’s Gasplasma process is a game changer for managing waste in the built environment as it produces no waste outputs and has low emissions. The plants can sit unobtrusively on the edge of towns using the waste to sustainably provide heat, power and fuels in exchange. It is a scaleable and sustainable means for waste management and power and fuel generation.
If this process can hit two birds with one stone, how come this solution hasn’t achieved mainstream status?
APP has a number of projects in the pipeline that are due to come to fruition imminently. However, as with any pioneering technology, there are challenges for APP associated with pioneering advanced conversion technologies and building a first-of-a-kind commercial facility. APP will have to pave a first route to market for this technology.
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APP’s Gasplasma process is a game changer for managing waste in the built environment as it produces no waste outputs and has low emissions. The plants can sit unobtrusively on the edge of towns using the waste to sustainably provide heat, power and fuels in exchange.
For example, new technologies are more expensive to deploy to begin with until economies of scale can bring down costs including the costs of finance.
Presently, it is a challenging environment in which to raise money so APP has a very rigid contracting and project finance structure and with our advanced technology, investors can be assured of an attractive proposition given the right long term contracts are in place.
What makes APP different from other waste to energy providers?
We believe we have certainly one of, if not, the most efficient processes for the conversion of this residual material into electricity and this is all down to engineering, ensuring maximum heat recovery and obtaining as much value from waste as possible. This value is not only electricity. We can also offer other, more flexible, solutions downstream and we are in particular focusing on the production of green gas and hydrogen.
We obtain as much value from the residual material as possible as a fuel and materials resource. We remove recyclates, particularly metals, glass and dense plastics, and from the balance extract as much value as possible as a source of energy.
In terms of the plant itself, it is compact with a small footprint and has a low environmental and visual impact so the technology can be located close to waste arisings or the towns and cities where the waste is generated, reducing transport miles and costs. We have process heat that can be exported to make combined heat and power a reality, rather than having to site these plants in the middle of nowhere. That’s a key design factor.
What is the potential for this technology in the Asian market?
APP believes that the waste to energy sector is vastly under-developed in Asia but has some of the greatest potential. Waste management is a growing problem, for example in Singapore, waste is expected to double every decade. This abundant resource could be sustainably used to generate clean and renewable heat, power and fuels if the right technology is installed. This would reduce the impact on the environment and pressure on resources whilst simultaneously providing energy security.
In addition to its UK projects, APP is also making progress on plans to license its technology to international developers in other markets. It aims to provide engineering design in addition to key components and we are very close to securing a number of international orders in Asia. This is a key focus area for APP.
You used to work for HP and Apple. What made you switch from the IT industry to the waste to energy business?
Having worked for the world’s leading information technology companies, I am now applying my experience to technologies that can benefit the environment and reduce our impact on the planet. As a concerned citizen, for example, I drive an electric car. I wanted to make the move into the renewable energy sector and APP and its team of engineers with a leading technology was the obvious choice. I embrace technological innovation and as we move to commercial deployment, I hope that many communities will benefit from this local sustainable solution to waste management and power generation.