How to Turn Waste into Energy and Ways We Waste Energy - Electricity in Texas

The media is already jam-packed with messages of conservation and environmental responsibility. Instead of thinking about ways we can save energy, let�s take a look at some of the ways American consumers waste energy. After that, we�ll look at one interesting way that scientists have devised to turn solid waste into electricity.

How We Waste Power
There are plenty of ways that we waste electricity in our homes. Bare, uninsulated hot water pipes are a big culprit. Think about it; your water heater uses lots of fuel (usually natural gas) to bring that water to approximately 120 degrees. As that water moves through the pipes in your home, it heats the pipes, and this heat is then transferred to the air unless the pipes are insulated.

We try to save money by holding off on purchases of big appliances, but holding off may be costing you more money than if you went ahead and bought that appliance. An old washer or dryer or oven uses more energy than appliances that are manufactured today. ENERGY STAR-certified appliances feature big, yellow stickers that make clear how much energy the appliance uses, and how much it will cost the average consumer to use. Inevitably, however, appliances get less and less efficient as they age.

Inefficiency is another big energy waster. When electricity is generated at power plants, it must be routed to transformer stations and transmitted through power cables, sometimes over several miles, then stored in a local power station until sent to your neighborhood and home. Unfortunately, there is always a slight loss of electricity when it�s sent from one place to another. Even if it's a small amount for each individual home, that electricity lost to waste really adds up when you multiply that amount by the number of homes in America.

The most wasteful way to deal with energy is what we've been doing for decades now: failing to take advantage of the energy sources we have the ability to tap. Improvements in technology allow us to recover fossil fuels that were previously unreachable. No matter where we are with respect to the peak oil production (called the Hubbert Peak after the first scientist who theorized it), it's clear that petroleum is on its way out in the long term. There is lots of oil locked in shale in places like Canada, and it's just waiting for us to employ new techniques to coax it out. There are also large, untapped oil deposits, some of the last of their kind, waiting to be accessed in Alaska and other areas around the North Pole. With abundant coal deposits on (and under) American soil, techniques that convert the solid rock into liquid fuel may also be promising.

The biggest untapped resources are the alternative energies such as solar and wind power. The sunlight and wind are there; we're just not enjoying any benefit from them at the current time. Sites such as RoofRay.com allow a consumer to do a rough calculation as to how much solar power they could generate by adding solar panels to the roofs of their home.

Turning Trash Into Treasure
What have we learned? When it comes to energy, nothing is as simple as it seems. Even though it's counterintuitive, the waste we produce can be turned into electricity. As organic matter decomposes, the hydrocarbon-rich gas called methane is produced. All of the banana peels and leftovers you throw away end up in a landfill. Combined with everyone else's garbage, that's a lot of methane. In some landfills, that gas is collected and burned to make electricity.

The United States Government has recognized the possibilities of landfill methane capture and its electricity generation potential. The Environmental Protection Agency runs a Landfill Methane Outreach Program that provides the proper organizations with technical assistance and other materials they need to equip landfills with the proper technology. The methane is collected with the help of wells and a complicated vacuum system. Once collected, the methane can be used to generate electricity for residential and industrial customers. There are several dozen operational projects currently running in the United States, including 22 in the state of Texas alone. There are also 53 candidate landfills in the Lone Star State that could be equipped with the machinery.

Imagination = Future
With enough creativity, scientists and entrepreneurs can find solutions to any problem. With enough imagination, even waste materials can have a positive impact on our country. The important thing going forward is to employ that ingenuity to secure our energy future.