How does Municiipal Solid Waste (trash) get converted into electricity?

Question

Also, how does it get to our homes?

Answer 1

There's also Plasma Incineration -- using a plasma arc (ionized gas) to burn the garbage at an extremely high temperature that produces gases and glass/metal slag. The gases can be used for electricity and the slag for element-recovery.

Answer 2

The trash gets incinerated (burned at a high temperature), which heats up water in a boiler, which makes steam. The steam turns a turbine, which is connected to a generator. The electricity from the generator is connected to the wires which go to your home.

(There are also other electrical devices in between, but that makes it too complicated for this yahoo answer.)

Spokane, WA. has one of these systems -- that's one example.

Answer 3

The importance of dependable electricity generation, transmission and distribution was revealed when it became apparent that electricity was useful for providing heat, light and power for human needs. Centralized power generation became possible when it was recognized that alternating current electric power lines can transport electricity at low costs across great distances by taking advantage of the ability to transform the voltage using power transformers.

Electricity has been generated for the purpose of powering human technologies for at least 120 years from various sources of energy. The first power plants were run on wood, while today we rely mainly on petroleum, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear power and a small amount from hydrogen, solar energy, tidal harnesses, wind generators, and geothermal sources.


Electricity distribution is the penultimate stage in the delivery (before retail) of electricity to end users. It is generally considered to include medium-voltage (less than 50 kV) power lines, electrical substations and pole-mounted transformers, low-voltage (less than 1000 V) distribution wiring and sometimes electricity meters.


The modern distribution system begins as the primary circuit leaves the sub-station and ends as the secondary service enters the customers meter socket. A variety of methods, materials, and equipment are used among the various utility companies across the U.S., but the end result is similar. First, the energy leaves the sub-station in a primary circuit, usually with all three phases. The most common type of primary is known as a wye configuration (so named because of the shape of a "Y".) The wye configuration includes 3 phases (represented by the three outer parts of the "Y") and a neutral (represented by the center of the "Y".) The other type of primary configuration is known as delta, this type is not as common and is an older method. Delta is so named because of the shape of the Greek letter delta, a triangle. Delta consists of only 3 phases and no neutral. In delta there is only a single voltage, between two phases (phase to phase). In wye there are two voltages, between two phases and between a phase and neutral (phase to neutral). Wye primary is safer because if one phase becomes grounded, that is makes connection to the ground through a person, tree, or other object, it should trip out the fused cutout similer to a circuit breaker tripping in your house. In delta, if a phase makes connection to ground it will continue to function normally. It takes two or three phases to make connection to ground before the fused cutouts will open the circuit

Answer 4

It's burned to make heat, which is used to turn water into steam, which turns a turbine, which generates electricity.
It gets to homes through wires...

Answer 5

Trash can also generate methane gas which can be tapped out of the landfill and burned.