Environmental pollution from waste and biomass energy generation

In the sectors of waste and biomass to energy, some debatable paradigms persist both among the specialists and among the population, concerning the performances of a few energy options. The present article wants to give a contribution to clarify the debate related to three cases: (a) local impact of waste to energy plants, from conventional solutions to innovative ones (thermochemical processes); (b) local impact of Solid Recovered Fuel generation before energy exploitation; (c) local impact of combustion of wood. Three key articles have been selected from the Author’s production (more than one hundred Scopus indexed works) in order to perform a deeper analysis. Results demonstrate that, changing the perspective, some paradigms on the environmental performances of a few waste and biomass options for energy generation must be at least modified.