Proponent assures to use clean, UN-approved tech.

 CEBU, Philippines - Greenergy Solutions Inc. (GSI) clarified in an official statement that the technology to be used to process Cebu City’s waste will not use incineration or burning but rather anaerobic digestion that is not classified as incineration.

GSI Chairman and CEO Ruth P. Briones said that the Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera and the groups who recently denounced GSI Waste to Energy Gasification Facility proposal might have mistaken her company to Green Energy Malaysia, which also submitted a proposal to Cebu City that will use Pyrolysis.

In a recent forum, several environment groups expressed opposition to GSI’s WTE project saying that it will use technologies that are incineration in disguise like pyrolysis and plasma arc.

Global Alliance of Incinerator Alternatives said that incineration process emits dioxin, a toxic and carcinogenic substance that can cause birth defects, mutation and cancer. The same process also emits mercury, a heavy metal that has various negative effects to the human body.

Briones said GSI and Green Energy Malaysia have nearly the same name so there must have been a mix-up that affected the groups’ impression of GSI.

Briones said their technology, which is classified as clean technology by the United Nations will not use pyrolysis or plasma arc to process the waste, but will use anaerobic digestion that will decompose biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas.

Anaerobic digestion, she said, lowers the emission of harmful substances.

Pyrolysis, on the other hand, decomposes organic materials using heat in the absence of oxygen.

“It is very unfortunate that in 2005, during the approval of a City Ordinance for the Cebu City Landfill Gas and Waste-to-Energy project, nobody had the idea that anaerobic digestion system is not the same as incineration process . This Public Consultation in 2005 conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Endesa Carbono of Spain and the City Government of Cebu was attended by all sectors of Cebu City including environmental groups like Greenpeace. It was made clear that Anaerobic Digestion system is not incineration and will not be burning any waste,” Briones said.

“Instead, it was made known and presented that anaerobic digestion (AD) system is a treatment that composts biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen, producing a biogas that can be used to generate electricity and heat. The said technology will process 100 per cent renewable energy from the biodegradable waste and helps tackle climate change, instead of contributing to climate change through landfilling and incineration,” she added.

Briones clarified that GSI is a 100 percent Filipino owned company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Philippines as a renewable energy development company.

It has entered an agreement with 15 local government units across the country. The recent contract it signed was with the LGU of Pangasinan for the establishment of an Energy Crop Plantation to ensure feedstock to Pangasinan’s Biomass Power Project.

GSI is set to appear before the council on October 3 for an executive session.  (FREEMAN)