Janique Madison: From garbage to energy

Janique Madison Photo credit: ornl.gov

Environmentalists like Janique Madison encourage people to think before they dump. A research by Global Change Biology suggests that the world’s garbage is a viable feedstock for biofuels. With the low value and logistic availability of waste, turning it to fuel is a promising opportunity to eliminate worldwide dependence on fossil fuels and find an alternative for piling garbage in landfills. When used as replacement for gasoline, biofuels derived from global trash could cut carbon emissions by 80%.

Janique Madison Photo credit: navitasadvisors.com

Waste biomass including paper and cardboard can be processed to form a clean energy solution, while those which cannot be recycled like agriculture or forest remnants, plastics, textiles, and wood are combined with catalysts and water to turn them into products such as ethanol.

Ecologists like Janique Madison note that aside from cutting world’s addiction to oil, the production of trash-based fuels also lessens the risk for greenhouse effect. For example, the California-based Blue Fire Ethanol, Inc. makes use of cellulose in plant remains to produce cellulosic ethanol fuel instead of letting them rot in the landfill wherein the plants’ cellulose mix with microbes which thus creates methane—a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse effect is attributed to the elevation of Earth’s surface temperature.

FJanique Madison Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

For environmentalists like Janique Madison, it truly makes sense to think twice before throwing garbage – who knows it can generate profit and save the environment? Visit Ms. Madison’s Facebook to learn more about environment preservation.