Are we done building coal power plants in the U.S?
J S asked:
What’s your prediction, will the coal industry prevail?
What’s your prediction, will the coal industry prevail?
Environmentalists Win Big EPA Ruling
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1859049,00.html
“In a nutshell it sends [new plants ]back to the drawing board to address their CO2 emissions,” says Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s National Clean Coal campaign. “In the short term it freezes the coal industry in its tracks.”
Let’s see. We have more coal reserves in this country than anywhere else. We have more oil shales. We have a country with a majority party that isn’t serious about utilizing our own resources, unlike any other country in the world. That party also whines that we are a small proportion of the population of the world that uses more resources. My guess we are in real trouble because they would prefer to pander to wackos and give BS to American citizens. We will see how the country likes it. My guess is we will swing way right in 4 years. You remember all the pandering Obama did in coal states ( I would call it lying). The chickens will come home to roost.
As I understand it, it is possible to capture *all* the carbon from coal power at a cost of about 30% of the power generated. Even at that, I would expect coal to be cost competitive with other sources, especially near locations like coal mines.
Future developments may decrease the carbon capture cost, making clean coal power even less expensive.
Coal also produces heat while generating electricity. This has a potential for “district heating” which is largely untapped in the United States, but could make coal power more attractive compared to wind or other heatless sources of power.
The easy answer has been all over the news, Obama while talking about how dirty fossil fuels are has dropped any form of power generation other than coal. So 4 more years of coal power being #1 until we can throw this new batch of luddite bums out.
If I had to make a prediction right now, I’d say yes.
The Bush EPA has resisted regulating CO2 since the initial Supreme Court ruling over a year and a half ago. Now not only is the Bush EPA finally being forced to regulate it, but they’re gone in just about 2 months, and you know Obama is going to appoint people serious about addressing global warming.
Obama has said he supports coal with carbon capture and sequestration, but that technology is at least a decade away. In the meantime, renewable energy is going to become increasingly cost-competetive.
I suspect that in the end we’ll try to retrofit our current coal plants with carbon capture technology, but I think we’ll build few if any new coal power plants. Regulating CO2 makes it difficult for them to be cost-competetive.
Well that’s what the environmentalists want, is to shut down the power industry altogether.
My prediction is that we make long-needed improvements to our transmission infrastructure. This will require FERC to improve rate increases. That way we can operate with less generating capacity by virtue of improved efficiency - we will not need as much surplus generating capacity in each region.
Yeah. I forsaw this and bought solar panels to zero out my Edison bill.
Unfortunately, I bought at the wrong time as there are now better rebates and cheaper solar production methods (nano-solar) will soon bring the cost down out of the stratosphere.
But solar is the way to avoid the huge costs the electricity providers will have to incur as a result of the Obama presidency.
We should build more coal plants.
The USA has lots of coal supplies.
We can build clean burning coal plants.
Better to use coal , nuclear, wind , solar and gas
for electricity than foreign imports.
We just need to stop sending coal generated
electricity to California..
Turn off their lights.
I think they will keep going because they have the lobbyists and powerful friends to keep on polluting. They also provide about half of the energy in the country and that’s a powerful market to hold on to.
And all this talk of clean coal is as good as talking about hydrogen cars. It’s just not commercially viable right now and won’t be for about another 10 years. It’s just a way of greenwashing the industry. They’re nowhere near ready to launch anything that’s been tested for safety and real reduction of energy and pollution.
no the need of energy keeps increasing.
We will be stuck with coal until it runs out because the party newly in power is funded by the industry. This political party that bleeds green is responsible for preventing new and cleaner technology like nuclear and space based solar from taking over 30 years ago.
And coal, oil, gas fried power plants have been scrubbing out Co2, So2, and carbon black from their stacks for over a hundred years. Where do you think the commercial supplies of these industrial gases come from? Liberals are really not very well educated, believe it.
I’m really curious how the economic welfare is going to exist without it. Did someone actually find the easy button and magic wand? Give it 5 - 10 yrs. In the mean time expect more carbon dumping. If your one of the fortunate ones that can afford alternative energy and/or green blocks. Then pat yourself on the back, you don’t represent a minute fraction of the world. ‘In a nutshell get real.’
Lets hope not, we have plenty of coal to burn and I say lets burn it efficiently, to not use a resource is foolish.
Not necessarily because coal can be utilized by a system called “Plasma Enhanced Meltor” or PEM for short. Just google it and see for yourself. The system breaks down the coal and the gas can be used for generating electricity or vehicles without the harmful emissions of CO2.
I hope not. I’m pro coal all the way!!! The electricity from coal probably made it possible for you to write this ridiculous question.