Sheffield Energy Recovery Facility (ERF)
Location: Bernard Road, Sheffield, S4 7YX
Photograph taken 07062013
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Sheffield Energy Recovery Facility (ERF)
Location: Bernard Road, Sheffield, S4 7YX
Photograph taken 07062013
Postcard Cafe 
Great shot Nigel, the sky helps with the industrious look of the building, the trees make it feel more ‘green’. I have had the privilege of been shown around this incinerator, and it is cold building. All the heat used is to generate steam for the heating so it has been built with good heat recovery and insulation.
Originally built in the 1960’s for district heating (the first one was built in Nottingham). The heat used to feed the old kelvin flats, and parkhill flats. It still uses steam heat for some shops and the civic buildings and the Hallamshire hospital. To me the energy from waste or waste to energy is an still one of the most viable ways of producing a supplement of energy to the national grid. Today it is too costly to put in steam lines to ne building. Both this incinerator and the original one in nottingham were ahead of the times, when they were first built, cheaper energy. just to point out,
Sheffield has an air quality zone, so has restrictions on nitrous oxides in the atmosphere. Incinerators are designed with excellent scrubber systems, to minimise air pollution, they are so strict, the waste incineration directive is applied to processd fuel oil protocol for oil reuse as another fuel source from recovery oil. A lot of wastes are not recyclable or recoverable to a suitable purpose, and this is one answer to reduction to landfill and alternative energy. Not only that, producers may not want their waste recovered or re-used for confidentiality reeasons, or the risk of illness. Another one of my rants Nigel, you do give something to chomp at now and again.. thank you for sharing the picture.
Thanks for taking time to share your knowledge of the incinerator. I remember back in the the late nineties or early two thousands that a bunch of Greenpeace protestors scaled the main chimney and set up camp. I have some 35mm pictures somewhere on the protest and the graffiti they painted on the chimney. I think back then there weren’t such stringent standards in place. I think there will always be a debate around incineration and I think the arguments on both sides are very complicated. I’m not sure where I stand although I do see a need for waste reduction and with the right technology incineration may be one of the ways to do this. I know there are other processes to reduce waste but its such a long time since I gave the subject any real thought or study Im a bit out of touch!
Yes i remember that too. I work in the waste industry, hence mys bleatings about such things. It was called something esle then and was run b y the council something like ‘parkway’ incinerator springs to mind. The waste industry sometimes does have a bad press, and deservedly so when sites are mis managed and the certain bodies don’t step in to help prebnt them ebfore the distaters, however when the proper thought and planning has gone into ecrtain developments, then to get knocked at planning or the NIMBYs come out, and what answers do they have to resolve the problems we have. The veolia incinerator was built in partnership with the council and it to all intense purposes the thing [incinerator] works, it does it job with a reduced impact ti the environment, and improved service for Sheffield; the fears from the protestors, have been abated….
If you any pics from then they maybe worth a peak on your blog… the now and then scenario….food for thought 🙂
Really like the Architectural aspect of this building!
I was pleased to get this angle for my shot. The location I took the photograph from is very difficult to access so there are actually few taken from this angle and most are from the other sides. This shot avoids the corporate branding which is visible on the other sides and to my eye makes for a stronger image. 🙂