Upper Darby Police Turn Guns Into Electricity

[SecularMotion]

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (CBS) — Almost 150 deadly weapons seized by Upper Darby over the last couple years have been melted down not for scrap metal, but electric power.

Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood coordinated the transport of 145 weapons from his station to the trash-to-steam plant in Chester. It’s a little different approach, Chitwood concedes. But the bottom line message to the community remains the same.

“The good things is these guns will never be sold,” he says. “They’ll never be on the market. They’ll never be able to be used in any type of commission of any crime.”

Chitwood figures he does one of these burns every couple of years to send a message to the law-abiding citizens of Upper Darby and elsewhere: that these guns are gone, and the streets are a little safer because of it.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/09/10/upper-darby-police-turn-guns-into-electricity/

[Duckhunter935]

1. another dubious cut and paste

that probably is not within the group SOP. Never knew steel burned? seems to me you need quite a lot of heat to melt hardened steel and that would take away the resources to actually make electricity. I think your headline is an outright lie, care to discuss it?

[SecularMotion]

3. I found another one!

You've been blocked from posting in the following groups

Gun Control Reform Activism
Hillary Clinton
History of Feminism
African American

Are there any more?

How many blocks are allowed before a member is banned from DU?

[Duckhunter935]

4. You keep getting more creepy

So I have been blocked in a few of the many protected "safe haven" groups, Ok. It is kind of creepy you are almost stalking my online presence here on DU. Skinner and the other admins seem to be fine with my being here.

At least I support the site by being a star member, quite unlike you it seems.

Care to stop derailing the thread and actually discuss the content of your cut and pasted post, did you even read it, lol?

[ileus]

7. Reads like they have you next in line to a permaban.

When they start doing research on backgrounds look for the info to show up in future hides.



Mark my word, you'll see something like this soon in a Inbox hide result.


"This poster has been offending folks so long he/she's banned in many groups, how long will this be tolerated."

[Duckhunter935]

8. Would not surprise me

more likely it will be the next time he goes and complains in ATA. He has done it several times and Skinner has shot him down every time so far, lol.

He supports this site so much he is not even a star member.

[SecularMotion]

12. I'm starting to see a pattern here

Anti-women, anti-black, anti-Clinton, anti-gun control. Why are you on DU again?

[Duckhunter935]

14. What's with the insults?

Care to comment or discuss the cut and pasted article?

Not anti black

Not anti woman

Not anti gun control, I am just for reasonable gun control.

As you know those are all safe haven groups that can ban for any reason per the admins.


I am anti Clinton, you are right there. She is for Wall Street and keeps evolving her issues.

[SecularMotion]

23. "keeps evolving her issues"

I guess we can add anti-evolution to the list.

[Duckhunter935]

24. Except evolution is true

Clinton's evolution on many issues is only for political expediency after the polls have told her what view she should have. I am for true evolution. Once again the only thing you seem to have are insults directed at me. Must be hitting a nerve with the truth. And you, the one that constantly complains about needing to stay on the thread topic. Care to discuss the actual topic of your cut and paste article per the group SOP?

[DetlefK]

2. This is just physically impossible.

Apart from the wooden grips, what is supposed to burn on a gun???

And it's a rather bad idea to throw metal in your incinerator, because this will just clog him up.

[Duckhunter935]

5. the burning plastic

that just adds to more air pollution must be a bonus, lol

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. Just an example of media presenting info that doesn't check out

The press is (IMHO) rife with examples of these inaccuracies. Anything between misquotes to scientific impossibilities are out there.
This kind of stuff undermines the credibility of the source.

[GGJohn]

9. Any comment SecMo?

Oh, wait........................

[Duckhunter935]

10. Only comment from him

Is not about the cut and pasted but an insult directed at me. See above. And he is the one that complains about keeping on topic. hypocrisy is an interesting thing.

[ileus]

11. You should have seen the things Shares used to throw at pro 2A posters.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

13. Trashing

IMNSHO suggesting that steel burns just isn't that far from saying lead can turn into gold.

[SecularMotion]

15. What happens to the metal?

It seems some DU members are concerned about the cost efficiency of burning/melting metal to produce electricity.

The information found here may help to assuage their fears

Trash-to-energy facilities burn garbage and use that heat to boil water to create steam. The steam spins a turbine that generates electricity. This process not only creates electricity from garbage, but it also reduces the garbage to ash. The volume of ash that needs to be landfilled is about 90 percent less than the volume of the original garbage. There are two kinds of trash-to-energy facilities – mass-burn and RDF.

http://www.crra.org/pages/prof_faci_wte.htm

[Duckhunter935]

16. Metal does not burn

And can't be used a source for electricity. So the basis of your little cut and paste article it shall I say in a word "crap". It takes energy away from the the other garbage to melt it, cutting down on any electrical generation. Burning the plastic content makes a great deal of pollution. The metal should be collected and recycled to make things like firearms. I hope it is not just put into a landfill.

[Duckhunter935]

18. I have been missing out or doing something wrong

I have melted metal before and it takes a lot of energy.

[Straw Man]

19. It's a fact ...

... that the process of melting metal consumes energy. It does not produce it. That's one of the reasons mass-burn incinerators are less efficient.

The metal could be processed as scrap, but I guess the PR value of the pretense outweighs the recycling value of that metal to the good people of Upper Darby.

[friendly_iconoclast]

20. Basic chemistry fail: Burning steel requires more heat than an incinerator can produce...

...at least 2,500F. That temperature would have wrecked the trash-to-steam plant and/or
produced enough oxides of nitrogen to merit a large fine from the EPA

Chitwood gets an "F" in science, and you get one too for not critically examining what you cut and paste

[DonP]

25. Correct. Melting and processing scrap steel is a very energy intense business

I work with Arcelor Steel in Indiana and their scrap furnaces use tremendous amounts of electrical energy to melt down all the scrap and direct reduced iron pellets they use to make bar and sheet steel. Occasionally, the Chicago police will truck over some confiscated junk guns to dump into a scheduled melt for PR purposes.

In fact they have their own city sized generating station on site to produce it.

The idea that somehow burning steel in a middle temp furnace will produce energy, as opposed to consume it is ridiculous and pretty much counter to any law of physics. But if you believe in gun control reducing crime and the Easter Bunny, you'll believe that physics is irrelevant anyway.

On the plus side, steel is probably the highest recycled material there is, last time I looked over 78% of all steel was recycled. Might be higher now.

[Eleanors38]

21. Trashing. This should be in the Outdoors Group: fishing.

[ManiacJoe]

22. Misleading article.

It is not possible to turn guns or knives/swords into electricity as there is not enough burnable material to create the needed fire for producing steam.

Makes for a great headline though.