A Better and More Sustainable Future for All

Waste-to-energy plants generate clean water from waste.

For example, at the Amager Bakke plant in Copenhagen, 100 million litres of water is extracted from 400,000 tonnes of waste through flue gas condensation. The cleaned water obtained from municipal waste has lower nickel, chrome, arsenic, cadmium, copper and zinc limit values than the city's drinking water.

Also, B&W's waste-to-energy technology is a clean and sustainable alternative to waste landfills, where toxic leachate can cause ground water pollution.

Two tons of waste equals one ton of coal. Four tons of waste equals one ton of oil. That’s a lot of energy to throw away in a landfill.

Waste-to-energy isn't just trash disposal. It's a way to recover valuable resources from waste. At customers' plants, almost 100% of the energy contained in the processed waste is recovered. A waste-to-energy plant converts municipal and industrial solid waste into electricity and heat for district heating systems – an ecologically sound, cost-effective means of energy recovery.

Energy storage technology allows power utilities, industrial and commercial users to take advantage of storing and dispatching cleaner, more affordable power from renewable sources. Through our Renewable segment, B&W is actively engaged in advancing energy storage technologies with long-duration systems up to 100 hours.

B&W has a zero-tolerance approach toward work-related injuries.

It's taken seriously and is ingrained in our daily work culture. We have implemented a comprehensive Target Zero safety program with a focus on proactive actions and tracking leading performance indicators.

Safety commitment is important for all of us. For example, everyone, both employees and contract workers, have Stop-Work Authority. They have the responsibility and obligation to stop work when a perceived unsafe condition, act, error, omission or lack of understanding has the potential to result in an accident.

Waste-to-energy is a vital part of a sustainable waste management chain. It complements recycling.

Emissions from our facilities are healthier to breathe than the air in many cities. And, waste-to-energy plants can serve as a cornerstone in the local community.

In Florida, USA, the Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility provides enough electricity for 30,000 homes using local refuse-derived fuel and waste-to-energy that would otherwise be landfilled. Copenhagen, Denmark's Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant serves an urban recreational facility, with both a roof-top ski slope and the world's highest climbing wall.

A major contributor to Delhi, India's chronic winter pollution is post-harvest rice straw burning in surrounding agricultural communities. The Faridkot and Firozpur biomass-to-energy plants in Punjab help lessen the effects of air pollution in the Indian capital by controlling harmful emissions. Each plant generates 75MW of electricity from biomass that until recently was burned in open fields. Rural farmers generate income by selling their rice straw as a biomass fuel.

Waste-to-energy is one of the most robust and effective alternative energy options for reduction of CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gasses.

Energy use accounts for over 73% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In Europe alone, waste-to-energy produces about 39 TWh of electricity and 90TWh of heat, saving approximately 50 million tonnes of CO2 emissions that might have been emitted from fossil fuel energy generation.

Also, processing waste at waste-to-energy plants rather than depositing it at landfills prevents the production of methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Furthermore, metals and minerals recycled from waste-to-energy processes prevent the unnecessary extraction of primary raw materials and the fuels needed for their extraction.

Beyond renewable energy, B&W Environmental provides a complete suite of technologies for carbon control, wastewater treatment, particulate, mercury, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides, acid gas and other emissions.

B&W maintains long-term partnerships with customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders to develop and deliver more efficient and cleaner solutions.

We have worked extensively with universities and worldwide government agencies to research more efficient and cleaner ways to generate and deliver energy to the world’s inhabitants. Two such examples include the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for advanced, renewable long duration energy storage technology and the US-China Clean Energy Research Center program to demonstrate oxy-combustion and other next generation carbon-friendly technologies as part of the Advanced Coal Technology Consortium (CERC).

Additionally, we license our waste-to-energy technology to partners in Asia. This allows B&W plants to be economically viable in middle- and low-income countries. So far, our partners have built over 30 plants in China, India and Southeast Asia. Municipalities benefit from sustainable waste management and clean energy generation while communities benefit from improved air quality.