Costs of Various Clean Energy Generation Options

As the U.S. struggles to figure out how to fight global warming while stimulating a sluggish economy, a win-win solution is waiting in the wings: industrial energy recycling.  Occurring mainly at power plants and manufacturing facilities, this process turns waste energy (usually heat) into clean power and steam, slashing greenhouse gas emissions and power costs at the same time.  Although energy recycling is often overlooked amid the romantic images of wind turbines and solar panels that permeate our political discourse, the hard numbers show it’s just as vital.  Studies done for the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy suggest the nation has enough recoverable waste energy to provide 40% of our power and slash global warming pollution by 20%.  Meanwhile, energy costs would fall due to increased efficiency.  Yet the U.S. lags far behind numerous other countries on this issue. This symposium will explore the science, economics, and politics of energy recycling.  Presenters will discuss the field’s most important technologies — particularly cogeneration (also known as combined heat and power) and waste heat recovery — while assessing the policy barriers that have kept them from flourishing in the U.S.  Recent policy developments and proposals will also be covered. This symposium will illuminate the potential of a technological field that has groundbreaking implications for national energy policy yet remains little known within both the scientific community and the public-at-large. Bridging this gap between science and society would encourage policies that allow energy recycling to bloom — simultaneously invigorating the economy and protecting the environment.