Burning Tires for Power: Green Energy or Health Hazard?

Burning Tires for Power: Green Energy or Health Hazard?

www.alternet.org

Green is not the color most people would associate with burning tires.

But that's how developers of a proposed tire-fueled power plant in hardscrabble Erie, Pa., describe their project. They say the plant, which would turn 900 tons of tires each day into a 90-megawatt power supply, would be an ecologically beneficial investment since it would keep tires out of landfills or illegal dumps and generate electricity with one-tenth the emissions of traditional coal-fired power plants.

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I don't know about you, but I find the idea of burning tires to create energy to be of concern. Given the amount of CLEAN alternative energy options which are now available, why is this even being considered? 900 tons per day? They claim that burning tires is much cleaner than burning coal but I would also like to point out that not burning tires is much cleaner than burning them. No matter how they dress it up you are still faced with this:

ERE's Web site says its emissions would be well within all legal standards and up to 10 times lower than those of coal-burning plants. But environmentalists and some residents argue that federal clean air standards are too lenient and don't regulate many dangerous metals, organic compounds and tiny particles. When synthetic rubber tires are burned, the byproducts would include highly toxic beryllium, lead, cadmium, selenium, silver, manganese and chromium 6 (of Erin Brockovich fame), according to Carman.

He said the waste gases of sulfur dioxide and other compounds in the emissions would also stick together in the air to form tiny toxic particles. Separately, unburned carbon would bond together to form highly carcinogenic benzene rings, or PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), which form as gases cool.

This just seems like such a bad idea when there are so many other options to produce clean, renewable energy. I'm gonna have to vote 'hell no' to this one....

www.alternet.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nobody has anything to say of this? For their own sake, I hope the people of PA are more outspoken than ATS members on this topic.

My dad did a tire recycling business in Alaska and one of the towns here had a interest in doing this also (it fell apart though as the governor wouldn't allow it) But they don't just throw tires into the fire they process the tires so that they become basically rubber chips I think 2 inch in size and they also burn hotter than coal. I don't remember exactly everything as this was a few years ago and the business kind of fell through. But from what I can remember they wouldn't throw all the tire chips in at one. They would mix it with coal or some other kind of fuel. I know they ran health tests and stuff but I don't remember the results I don't think it was that bad though but I could be off about that.

If it's like the poster said above me then I can see it. I can't see it if they throw the whole tire in. We had a guy who had rows upon rows of tires for years on his property until he was shut down by the city. He used to burn his tires and they reeked! It's illegal to burn tires I thought? At least here it is after him.