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Generating Energy From Wastes


The natural as well as the man made or built environment is increasingly threatened by two things: waste and #energy.A nation’s ability to dispose of waste, finds enough energy , and maintains a balance in the environment greatly affects the living conditions of her citizens. A good solution to the waste problem in  Nigeria and #Africa as a  whole, would be to generate #energy from #wastes. And this can be done by burning them in an incinerator. 

During open dump burning of waste, the  energy of combustion is wasted as is the common trend in most African communities across the continent. The catch will be to channel this energy of combustion to useful purposes like running a boiler, driving a turbine, heating a building, or generating electricity. In this dispensation this  will be economical for industries across Nigeria and Africa to provide some or  all of their own power by burning their own wastes.

To use waste for energy production effectively, the theories and data of thermodynamics which is the science of heat mechanics can be applied to such practical problems as in the incinerator design.  Owing to the rate of globalization and urbanization in #Africa, the amount  of  #solid wastes generation has tripled in  the last decade, and there is still the problem of  inadequate waste disposal.  In Nigeria for example, there is still the problem of disposing solid wastes properly. It is a common sight to see dump sites at every given corner in urban and sub- urban areas in the country. A good way to deal with this problem would be to provide incinerators in these communities  so that people who  live there can neatly dispose of their wastes and purposefully
too, since energy will be generated as they are being burnt in the incinerator. 

Secondly, adapting this method will greatly 
reduce the rate at which land is being polluted in the towns and cities. If there are measures put in place to alleviate these deteriorating habits which damage the aesthetic nature of the environment then we would go along way to protect and conserve our #environment a great deal. 

Finally, like someone once said: “ the real pollution problem is garbage. If you dispose of it, you can’t live. Incineration is a method of disposal which greatly reduces the volume of waste. We have to use incineration as we use it now due to the increasing difficulty of finding landfill. The solution to the air pollution problem is part of the general incineration problem”. Therefore, in Africa, we must as a continent ensure that our solid wastes are adequately disposed of and in order to conserve our natural resources and environment, we can generate #energy by the already proven and effective method of  incineration as the developed countries do in the world today.

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