Page one article in July 25th Wall Street Journal reports that plans for coal powered power plants are being shelved due to the “green movement”.
“As recently as May, US power companies had announced intentions to build as many as 150 new generating plants fueld by coal, adding to the 645 existing units that produce one half the nation’s electricity.”
A number of the units have been delayed or cancelled. Nuclear power plants are years away from being viable. Wind and solar generators are not reliable. That leaves natural gas as the energy choice to take care of our growth.
Further, “coal has come under fire because it is a big source of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming, in a time when climate change has become a hot - button political issue.”
Coal companies are working to develope alternative uses for their fuel, the article reports.
So, it appears the DME extention might not be quite as viable as it was a short time ago.
The Leadership of this Nation is asleep at teh switch. And will be until election is over.
We need power and lots of it. If those solar panels are cheap enough every home and building in the USA can use the sun to generate for the grid minus thier own consumption.
No surprise here. Late last year I posted a thread “End of the line for coal?” that linked to a story in Business Week.
The emerging consensus among power industry analysts was that coal was going to become more and more untenable as a power source because the newly elected Democratic congress was likely to enact carbon emissions taxes. Some of the more vocal members of this group went off on a completely irrelevant tangent, disputing the scientific basis for global warming. (Which is probably why the thread was removed.) What we’re really talking about is political reality. That has progressed beyond scientific debate and Congress is now considering bills to tax carbon emissions.
Good luck to the coal companies for finding alternative uses. Every alternative that I’ve read about runs into the same problems with an emissions tax.
the same people that want to levey taxes on “carbon emstions” are the same ones that waste more resorses on pet projects… privit jet aircraft flights to and from god knows where at there whim…this global warming is just another “hot button” to figer a way to get new taxes…you will see no major changes in anything other then the cost of living becouse anyone with half a brain knows that buisness dont pay taxes…they just pass what they would pay onto the consumoer with higher prices for goods and services…just another tax for them to pad there payroll and pention with if you ask me… tax and spend…tax and spend…dont matter what party you vote for…the D and R both the same thing… only out for themselfs… and who gets the bill… you…me…and every other tax payer and consumer…
The article indicated growth in electricity use around 2 - 3% per year, which is about the same as GNP. It would seem at some point in time we would be facing some serious issues about supply of electricity. If coal is the least perferred method of production, if nuclear is years away and other sources are unreliable, then demand for natural gas will jump. Hang on to your wallet if you are heating your house by natural gas.
I dont really want to start a “green vs the masses” conversation, but something’s gotta give at some point.
How will solar cells work when it is daylight only half of the time and it is overcast or raining/sleeting/snowing a third or more of the daylight period?
Solar panels work by charging a battery system, which is where you get your power from, and most “modern” systems still can charge even on cloudy/overcast days. Direct sunlight is not needed.
But even solar energy, especially on large scale, isn’t completely enviro friendly. Battery systems do give off a gas and they must be disposed of when worn out. And the last I heard (and maybe that’s changed) it took about a 1/4 of basement space for enough batteries to power a solar powered house.
I wonder what they mean by nuclear power not viable now. UK is going almost all nuclear, and Europe isn’t far behind. Japan is almost, if not completely, nuclear powered. The only unviable part of it is NIMBY.
When it was discovered that concurrent warming is occuring on the other planets in the solar system, the idea of anthropogenic CO2 being a causal factor for Earth’s observed warming went from being a highly auspicious debatable concept to a down
Did U C the program called boneyards on History Channel in which they showed used RR ties being shredded & then ship to a power plant in California because they no longer can use coal?
Well, I suppose I can agree with that… combine that with “political reality”, and there you go. The pressure, good or bad, is on. “Global Warming” is gaining alot of political traction whether we like it or not, and “big business” is responding to it. The people who are proffering the Global Warming theory are also those who wield considerable power, and businesses recognize this. It’s not a “fringe” movement anymore, it is solidly in the mainstream. According to the science I have read, the “human cause” of so climate change is so much horse hockey, but, the fact remains, that it is becoming accepted by many people. If anything more and more people are developing a “something must be done, regardless” kind of attitude, and that attitude is what the proponents of global warming are couting on. There is a lot of political pressure out there, especially when prominent Hollywood types are on the bandwagon and these people carrry alot of weight with the younger crowd, who are the main force behind the “something needs to change” mentality. This younger crowd is going to be voting age soon, or are already there, and the politicians need to court this group to maintain their position. When you combine the steady stream of “Global warming” and “Green is Good” messages coming out of Hollywood, and in popular culture, as well as in our public schools, aimed at possibly the most powerful voting bloc that is of age, or coming of age, with politicians who desire to remain in office, and be popular you wind up with a cause that real or imagined, is going to drive not only legislation, but political thought as well. Add to that, businesses that want to stay in buisness are going to be proactive, and are going to do what they have to to avoid being taxed out of existence. So, if that means buying “hybrid” vehicles,
My comment about nuclear being “viable” was probably not a good use of words. My thoughts, which I failed to communicate, concerns the infrastructure to build nuclear reactors to meet future demands. My guess is that we are years away from being able to turn on the switch to nuclear plants.
Dave…tell me more about the other planets temp rising. I havent heard that. How much are the temps rising? That is a major developement.
oops, I thought you were paraphrasing, talking about the invisible “they sayer’s”. we have the ability to build very safe npp’s, it just takes along time and a lot of money. And that’s after you get past the NIMBY crowd that demands cleaner fuels, but refuse the best choice we have right now. By the time they wake up to it, it’ll be to late to build enough fast enough
without making inferior, thereby dangerous, npp’s.
my[2c], I’ll get off the [soapbox] and let someone else have it for a while, for the line is long.
As FM has pointed out, eventually the chickens are going to come home to roost when the consumer gets the bill for all this happy green hoo-ha. But for now, consumers blithely jump on the bandwagon; thinking all they have to sacrifice is a little spare change for new light bulbs. Wait until they see their utility bills triple.
Big busines is responding to it now is becouse they can see the hand writing on the wall when it comes to the bottom line… when…and it is only a matter of time befor it happens… the Federal government starts to pass “carbon emisstion taxes”…corporations are setting themselfs up to be able to get tax writeoffs for low carbon emisstion expenditours they invest in by way of R&D money for “green” technologys and government insentives to lower emistions… and as far as the goverment… this whole issue is just another money well to pump cash out of with new taxes…
what none of these people that suport this global warming issue tell you is…that natural prosseses such as a volcanic eruption puts more CO2 into the air in a day then the US dose in a year…
Interestingly, different explanations are offered in different cases, notwithstanding their common relationship to the sun.
Regarding the coal industry, the individual power companies have begun utilizing recent very large rate increases by the railroads for their IRR calculations for new power plant construction. The size of many of the recent rate increases has taken the power generation industry by surprise, as the cost of transporting coal, in particular Powder River Basin coal, now exceeds the cost of the coal itself by 2-3x. The transportation cost of coal is becoming the single most important factor in evaluating the potential of new power plants and their locations, and even though most power rates are still cost-based, the sharp rise in transportation costs, coupled with rapid changes in transportation costs, have made it difficult at best to justify to investors and lenders a long term investment based upon unpredictable and rapid cost changes.
The electric power industry also notes that the STB has prov
The Martians are coming, and man oh man are they pissed off! Why? Because we caused their global warming, now they’re coming to take over our planet!
Because, as we all know, global warming is caused by Earth man’s carbon footprint. It is consensus science. It is irrefutable. The debate is over, and anyone who dares refute this fact is a global warming denier, punishable by Nuremburg-style war crimes trials.
I for one welcome our new Martian Overlords. They can’t be any worse than the current 14% approval rated Democrat-controlled Congress?[;)]
Thanks for posting these, Michael. Saved me at least a couple of hours worth of work to get all the necessary links!
Ed, it shouldn’t suprise you that you haven’t heard about this in the MSM. Such information would blow the doors off the presumed Presidency of Mx. Hillary Clinton and her presumed running mate Obama Barrack. Best to keep this info under wraps until after the 2008 elections!
My [2c] anywhoooo…
PS - “Mx” denotes gender neutrality, or at least gender uncertainty!
The Wall Street Journal doesn’t have all of their facts right. A coal-fired power plant using a new technology known as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is in the midst of the permitting process for construction in Bowie, Arizona, as we speak.