‘Mines of the future’
Now that the Hawaii Island has cut back on its recycling program and the landfills are filling up, it is time for the county government to get serious about a waste-to-energy program using advanced plasma incineration technology.
In the previous Harry Kim administration, a Wheelabrator waste-to-energy project was proposed. I testified then, as an electrical engineer, at a conference held in Pahoa that the Wheelabrator incinerator was a process that used obsolete technology that would have high operating costs. I stated then that plasma incineration was a superior, more cost-effective way to go. Although the Wheelabrator project was shelved, no effort to explore plasma incineration was followed up on.
Plasma incineration can produce commercial-end products like fuel, pure water, electricity, fertilizers and construction materials. So, garbage and trash become useful products and energy — the ultimate in automated recycling!
Plasma incineration also converts harmful molecular products, like dioxin, asbestos, medical waste, etc., into their harmless atomic states. The benefits are numerous.
Plasma incineration is a proven technology. For decades, the U.S. Navy has used on-board plasma incinerators to dispose of hazardous waste at sea. European countries are using plasma incinerators to dispose of their trash while generating electricity and producing commercial products.
InEnTec (www.inentec.com) is producing and selling their plasma enhanced melter products globally. As one example, InEnTec sold a model G300 plasma enhanced melter to Fuji Kaihatsu Ltd. in Iizuka City, Japan, which has been using it for automated gold and copper recovery from e-waste since 2002.
Placing plasma incinerators next to landfills will convert these landfills into the mines of the future, while solving the municipal waste problem in a practical and environmentally safe way.
Herbert Dorsey
Pahoa
To dog lovers
As a dog owner, I already know the benefits my pup provides in terms of my mental and physical health. Her name is Delilah, and she is a Yorkie weighing a scant 4 1/2 pounds. She is 14 years old, so I treasure every day she is with me.
From the time I awake in the morning until I fall asleep at night, she is there to provide comfort and joy in my life, not to mention important daily exercise when she takes me on walks around the neighborhood.
Not only do we both benefit from fresh air and sunshine during these daily jaunts, but I have met some wonderful neighbors and passersby I might have otherwise never had the pleasure of meeting.
I take her just about everywhere, and the mere mention of the words “we’re going bye-bye today” is like offering someone a free vacation in Hawaii! On these trips, mostly to Kona, the smiles of shoppers seeing her is in itself a good feeling that is hard to match.
Those who personally want to meet her, and there have been many, are seemingly filled with the same joy one might experience in meeting a long lost friend. She greets everyone with a lick or two (she loves toes), and I must confess because of her, I have met some extraordinary and wonderful people I would have otherwise never had the pleasure of meeting.
This letter, if published, is dedicated to Delilah and to all dogs lucky to have owners who love them in return for all the comfort, happiness and exercise they provide.
To these four-legged friends, we say thank you. We love you very much.
Carl F. Goebel
Discovery Harbour