The Oil Drum

After an overpriced lunch which was redeemed by the interesting company, it was time for the afternoon sessions.  I only got good notes on two of the speakers, but man, one of them was a doozy!

Bill Davis, Ze-Gen

The 2 PM session began with what may be the biggest non-traditional concept for the next ten years, Ze-Gen.  Bill Davis ran through the potential of waste gasification for us.

The untapped potential is enormous.  The current electric production from waste is less than 3800 megawatts (not sure if this is USA or worldwide).  The potential is closer to 110 GW (110,000 MW) and $26 billion/year.  It also reduces the environmental cost of transport, and something like 1.8 tons of CO₂ equivalent per ton of waste processed (including fugitive methane emissions from landfills).  Depending on the policy details, there may also be renewable energy credits available (people differ on the renewability of waste).