Energy production, waste disposal, and the minimization of pollution are key problems that must be addressed for sustainable cities of the future. For the foreseeable future, fossil fuels will be the major source of energy, but due to the dwindling resources of oil and gas and the need for fuel security, coal is likely to become the major source of energy for heat and power. The need for clean coal technology precludes, the construction of new conventional pulverized fuel power stations and new technology is required. Coincidentally, the total heat content of municipal waste in Britain now totals about 30% of that of the coal used for present needs. The current best technology for the low pollution disposal of this waste is incineration with the production of electricity, and heat for district heating. Unfortunately, current electrical generation effiencies for coal burning plant and waste incinerators are only about 37% and 20% respectively. In this paper various pyrotechnology systems are discussed which integrate the use of fossil fuels with waste processing in order to provide superior electrical power production effincies. The optimized integration of steam from an incinerator with the steam part of a conventional gas-fired combined cycle can provide a greater overall efficiency than that achieved if the fuels are used independently. Furthermore, a high temperature heat exchanger can be used in a recuperative gas turbine to achieve generation efficiencies of 60% without the use of a steam cycle. One integrated pyrotechnology system is proposed in which the steam from a conventional ‘mass burn’ waste incinerator is gasified with coal to yield a mixture of (environmentally clean) carbon monoxide and hydrogen which in turn is used in a combined gas turbine/steam cycle. Perhaps more significant than the efficiency improvement is the dramatic effect on pollution control. The massive investment in flue-gas clean-up in a conventional pulverized fuel power plant is no longer required. Sulphur, in particular, is removed in saleable, elemental form in place of landfill of the vast amounts of calcium sulphate presently produced. In the longer term, ‘excess enthalpy’ reaction principles may yield benefits for electrical energy production from the combustion or direct gasification of certain wastes. In addition to flue-gas clean-up, the need to clean or eliminate all discharges from the overall Waste, Energy and Pollution Control (WEP) plant requires the elimination of liquid effluents and conversion of ashes to usable products by thermal treatment. High waste transport costs and low pollution leads to the conclusion that plants based on these technologies can be acceptably located within cities. This not only reduces the electrical distribution losses but also permits the ‘waste’ heat to be used in the plant locality resulting in overall CHP efficiencies greater than 80%.