TY - GEN

T1 - Welfare economic assessment of processing impregnated waste wood

AU - Kjærbye, V.

AU - Larsen, A.

AU - Hasler, B.

AU - Schrøder, M. R.

AU - Cramer, J.

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - Waterproof waste wood contains a series of chemicals, especially chromium, copper and arsenic, which can be hazardous to human health and the natural environment in concentrated quantities. In this welfare economic analysis the economic and environmental consequences of four methods of processing impregnated waste wood are considered and compared: deposition, incineration, gasification and an extraction process. The quantity of impregnated waste wood is not a limiting factor for the individual method. The analysis includes both the socio-economic and the environmental consequences of applying these methods. The results of the analysis show that incineration and gasification are the cheapest wood processing methods in a welfare economic perspective. The reason is that both methods produce heat and thereby avoid the use of other more polluting fuels. Deposition is quite expensive, and it neither recycles nor uses the energy in the wood. If one only looks at the direct costs of the processes, and does not estimate and include the value of the environmental consequences, the differences between the methods are smaller. The basis for the article is a report by the authors for The Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the agency for funding.

AB - Waterproof waste wood contains a series of chemicals, especially chromium, copper and arsenic, which can be hazardous to human health and the natural environment in concentrated quantities. In this welfare economic analysis the economic and environmental consequences of four methods of processing impregnated waste wood are considered and compared: deposition, incineration, gasification and an extraction process. The quantity of impregnated waste wood is not a limiting factor for the individual method. The analysis includes both the socio-economic and the environmental consequences of applying these methods. The results of the analysis show that incineration and gasification are the cheapest wood processing methods in a welfare economic perspective. The reason is that both methods produce heat and thereby avoid the use of other more polluting fuels. Deposition is quite expensive, and it neither recycles nor uses the energy in the wood. If one only looks at the direct costs of the processes, and does not estimate and include the value of the environmental consequences, the differences between the methods are smaller. The basis for the article is a report by the authors for The Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the agency for funding.

KW - Impregnated waste wood

KW - Welfare economic assessment

U2 - 10.2495/WM060591

DO - 10.2495/WM060591

M3 - Article in proceedings

AN - SCOPUS:36148968042

SN - 1845641736

SN - 9781845641733

VL - 92

SP - 583

EP - 592

BT - Waste Management and the Environment III

PB - WITPress

T2 - 3rd International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment, WASTE MANAGEMENT 2006, WM06

Y2 - 21 June 2006 through 23 June 2006

ER -