Potential of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) as renewable energy resource in Europe

This study explores the situation of waste management options currently employed and investigates how MSW can contribute to increase the renewable energy supply in Europe. For this purpose, a GIS-based methodology was developed to analyse the spatial distribution of MSW resources and to identify the optimal location of potential new WtE plants. The Global Human Settlements (GHS) project from the Joint Research Centre (JRC) was used as spatial proxy for the spatial distribution of the MSW. The results correspond to geospatial layers at 1 sq. km cell grid for the target year of 2015 for the following resources: generated waste, recycled waste, and waste sent to composting.本研究探究欧洲当前城市固体废物（MSW, Municipal Solid Waste）管理方案的应用现状，并剖析城市固体废物如何助力欧洲提升可再生能源供给水平。为此，本研究开发了一套基于地理信息系统（GIS, Geographic Information System）的分析方法，用以解析城市固体废物资源的空间分布特征，并识别潜在新建垃圾焚烧发电（WtE, Waste-to-Energy）厂的最优选址。本研究采用欧盟联合研究中心（JRC, Joint Research Centre）的全球人类住区（GHS, Global Human Settlements）项目数据，作为城市固体废物空间分布的空间替代指标。本研究所得结果为2015年目标年份下，以1平方公里栅格为单元的地理空间图层，涵盖以下三类城市固体废物资源：生活垃圾产生量、可回收生活垃圾量以及堆肥处置生活垃圾量。