Susanable future

 

       In September 2008 D.A.D.S launched its Waist-to-Energy program. This process extracts the methane through a series of pumps located at the surface of the trash mounds. The pumps lead to series of chambers that convert the incoming methane to electricity. This electricity is totally sustainable powering the entire dump and an additional 3,000 homes. 

      Over the course of a single day the Denver population produces over 12,000 tons of trash. This number alone makes this dump the sixth largest in the nation. Although there are many dump sites like Denver not many of them hold the same interest in renewable energy, and even less are experimenting with such positive results. In the readings from Capra this quote describes what a sustainable society should be like, “A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without diminishing the process of future generations”. This is what we must strive for in our future. The first steps can be taken by doing all around the nation what D.A.D.S is currently in the process of doing. The picture at the top of the page shows the machines at D.A.D.S that convert the methane to renewable energy.   

           As I write this paper two questions are being raised, Can methane be used as a more permanent solution for renewable energy? And why aren’t we pushing for more experimentation on other dump sites across the nation? To run the D.A.D.S plant in Denver there only needs to be about thirty five staff members on site. This is surprising seeing how large this operation is. The dump site known as D.A.D.S is located on a former bombing range which provides thousands of acres on un-used land. Estimations done by the staff, it will still be another 129 years until the dump is fully filled. This provides an opportunity for a growth in methane extraction and conversion. This could possibly be the answer for the future in sustainable energy.