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Municipal Cash Incinerators

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There is a new high-tech device coming to communities across America. It’s being billed as a solution to reduce government waste, create jobs, create “green” electricity, and best of all provide a great way to use taxpayer dollars. It’s called municipal cash incinerators.

Many people have not heard of the concept of burning taxpayer dollars to create electricity. Yet, studies have shown it’s a remarkably good way. Why burn perfectly good coal or natural gas, when you can burn municipal cash? We all know that renewables like solar and wind can not power a society. So there is only one real choice: Municipal Cash Incinerators.

How does this advanced technology work? Using a high-tech process, $1 bills bought using municipal tax dollars, obtained through property taxes and government grants, are burned in a large furnace that heats water to steam and turn a turbine. This turbine generates electricity. Best off all, because money is green in color, it is a green process. Moreover, money spend on cash burners will not be wasted on less productive governmental purposes like roads and schools.

trash to steam

There are many good reasons to burn municipal cash:

  • For one, if government starts hoarding $1 bills rather then storing the money in a normal bank account, city halls across the country would be overwhelmed with all this paper cash.
  • If this cash was used for productive purposes it would continue the money in the economic cycle and help drive inflation up.
  • Many conservatives feel that inflation is the biggest risk facing our society today.

Some activists are complaining about municipal cash incinerators. They say it’s stupid to burn taxpayer dollars. Some are even suggesting that constructing municipal cash incinerators is an outright fraud, a stealing of people’s hard earned dollars. So what? Government has to spend the public’s money somehow.

Why is NYSERDA in the Pine Bush?

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One of the things that bothers me is that NYSERDA, the New Yor State Energy Research and Development Corporation is located in the Albany Pine Bush in Corporate Circle, in a location primarily serviced by automobiles with minimal if any bus service through the CDTA ShuttleBee. Based on NYSERDA’s location, it is highly unlikely that any employees or visitors ever come to it using mass-transit. Most employees use gas guzzling private automobiles.


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NYSERDA in the Pine Bush

Plenty of Real Estate Downtown,
Much Free to Use…

At the same time, there is a large amount of vacant office space downtown, that should be put into use. It’s quite possible that there would be sufficient room to move all of NYSERDA’s operations to a portion of 625 Broadway, home to the Department of Environmental Conservation and Environmental Facilities Corporation. With recent layoffs and the hiring freeze, there probably is ample space in there.

If not, as New York Times recently documented, the 12 floors of the Corning Tower that are currently sitting vacant would be an ideal place for NYSERDA. Quite a bit of scientific research and bureaucratic work gets done in the Corning Tower by the Health Department and Health Services Corporation, and it seems only natural for a public corporation like NYSERDA to consider locating to this location.

Alternatively, NYSERDA could consider renting a private building downtown like the Arcade Building. Many of these buildings have been vacant for a long time, and it’s possible that the rent they could get is far below what they paid for the sprawl rent in the Albany Pine Bush. While they wouldn’t get the parking spaces next to their offices downtown, what they would trade that in for would be less air pollution and lower energy consumption.

NYSERDA's Green Building

NYSERDA Should Be Setting an Example …

Rather then focusing on super-cars that only wealthy state bureaucracies can afford, they should be focusing on promoting compact communities serviced by mass-transit. While NYSERDA can’t force it’s employees to live in Albany, nor should it necessarily do as such, it can promote the benefit of having a workforce that works downtown in a highly energy efficient fashion.

The agency can promote the ease and convenience of working downtown, along with the energy and time savings. By not including significant parking in their relocation, they encourage employees and visitors to come using mass transit. NYSERDA could go farther and educate all existing and new employees about the many Park and Ride sites and bus service in the Capital Region, along with providing discount or free bus passes to all employees and visitors.

We need to think seriously about investing more into mass-transit . Transit is the future for our urban-areas, and all large employers of the future need to be located near transit lines that are regularly serviced, and reduce employee’s commuting distances.

… NYSERDA: It’s About Making Smart Energy Choices.

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Open Pine Bush

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