Runcorn: Renewable Energy

Improved Essays
he fuel that is burned at the incinerator site at Runcorn is pre-treated refuse derived fuel (RDF). (1) This type of fuel is made from industrial and commercial non-recyclable waste. This is reduces the amount of waste that reaches landfills. This site also produces huge amounts of energy which generates up to 70MW of electricity and 51 MW of heat. This will reduce the dependence of fossil fuels. This is an example of transmaterialisation as it’s the transition from fossil to renewable feedstocks like RDF. This is also a sustainable process a there will also be waste from industries. The site is clearly great for the economy and environment but what is crucial is the direct social impact of the people living in and around Halton. Runcorn burns …show more content…
However, the initial investment and maintenance costs must come into the argument to compare it against simply sending the waste to landfill. (2) Figure 1 clearly shows the Gross private costs of incineration is some 250% higher than that of landfill. This table also shows that there is a cost saving due to materials as industries will have to pay for the incineration of their waste which will then contribute to lowering the net costs of incineration. Despite this, incineration does produce a lot more energy that can be converted into electricity and utilised.
A key benefit of incineration is that it produces usable energy. The electricity produced can be used for all manner of things, so it would be fitting to compare the production of electricity for various electricity producing processes. Figure 2 shows greenhouse gas emissions in grams per Kwh of electricity produced.

Figure 2: shows greenhouse gas emissions in grams per Kwh of electricity
…show more content…
And at 1pm every Monday a safety siren is tested for all to hear, this became very normal and every person knowing what the siren mean’t and where is was coming from. If the siren was heard at any other time residents are urged to go inside and close all windows and doors. Even with this previous exposure to potentially harmful substances people from Runcorn were very unhappy at the idea of the incinerator and believed that the emissions from burning ‘rubbish’ could be very hazardous to health to the local people. Many local residents were totally against the building of the plant so close to local resident’s houses. As can be seen in fig (4) the incinerator is just a street away from houses. Personally, being from the area there have been many occasions local residents have shown their dissatisfaction for the

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