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The Need

Together, high energy costs and inefficient waste management methods have created a global crisis of epic proportions. Sustainable, low cost, clean energy and environmentally friendly, low cost, waste management solutions can help to avoid this predicament.

Poor Waste Management Methods

In 2006, the United States produced an estimated 251 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). That’s about 4.6 pounds per person per day. About one third of that waste consisted of packaging and containers. Food, yard waste, and other organic throwaways accounted for another 25%. Newspapers, magazines, and other nondurable goods made up 25% of the total, while durable goods such as kitchen appliances and tires accounted for 16%. Most of the garbage – approximately 55% -- wound up in landfills. Another 31% was recycled, and just 14% was converted to energy. The sources of MSW were 55-65% residential with 35-45% coming from schools and commercial locations. (November 2007 EPA Report)

Currently, over 50% of the United States waste is disposed of in landfills annually.  At the present rate, 3,500 acres (13.7 square kilometers, equivalent to four NYC Central Parks) are lost annually to landfills, and this number will continue to rise to keep pace with our ever-increasing production of trash. Key problems with landfills include 1) the release of the potent greenhouse gas methane from decomposing trash, 2) transportation used to haul trash to landfills produces harmful emissions and uses valuable fuel resources, 3) many communities are currently dealing with leakage from closed landfills, and 4) high levels of methane emissions often make landfills dangerous and difficult places to redevelop.

While incineration is sometimes used on a large scale by municipalities and industry, incineration is a controversial method of waste disposal due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants and efficiency.

High Energy Costs

Within the energy profession a number of groups are grappling with the challenge of "Peak Oil." While the efforts of Al Gore and others have raised awareness of the threat of global warming, society is not in any way prepared for the imminent decline in global oil production. In the near term, declining production will impact certain countries more than others. Cantarell, the largest field in the western hemisphere, is declining rapidly. Without imports, the USA's domestic oil reserves would be exhausted in three years at the current rate of consumption. Liquid fuel substitutes (tar sands, coal-to-liquids, oil shale, surprisingly even ethanol and biodiesel) are carbon intensive and will only exacerbate global warming. Plus they cannot be scaled up on a timely basis. It would take one new nuclear power plant every week until 2050 to fill the oil gap.  By 2015 these technologies could displace only the equivalent of 4 percent of projected annual consumption. Under these circumstances, an imminent peak and sharp decline in oil production could have severe consequences, including a worldwide recession. If the peak comes later, however, these technologies have a greater potential to mitigate the consequences.

The GEMTM Solution

IST Energy Corporation has developed GEMTM. A Waste-To-Energy Conversion (WEC) solution that integrates into customer waste processing streams, mitigates the negative impact associated with waste disposal, and directs clean renewable energy back into customer power grids.