Experts tell us it’s dirty, unhealthy, and “bad” for the planet. In the power industry, the recent SCOTUS ruling against the EPA’s overreach into mining has thrust coal back into the spotlight as a fuel source. There are approximately 229 coal-fired power plants in the U.S. (in contrast, there are nearly 3,000 oil/natural gas plants). China has 1300+ coal-fired power plants (85 percent of their total generation, compared with 23 percent in the U.S.). They are building new coal plants (of questionable safety and design) alongside their efforts to increase nuclear power. India has 290+ and is building 74 new coal plants.
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Stocking Coal
In 12 short years, the U.S. will hit the Biden Administration’s deadline for a fossil fuel-free power grid. In a previous article, I discussed the lack of resources to meet the frankly ludicrous plan to quadruple our renewable power generation and meet the arbitrary deadline of “no more fossil fuel” for a green grid. But what about coal?
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Almost all of the fossil fuel power plants in the US are tri-fuel plants, meaning that they can burn coal, oil or natural gas, depending on the economics of the fuel. All of the hydropower sites are already taken, and wind, sun and other such sources of energy lack the energy density of fossil fuels. Nuclear is probably the way to go, but we should model the reactor designs in accordance with the Canadian CANDU reactors or the French reactors. Instead of having a unique design for each reactor, these countries use a cookie cutter approach, so if a problem is found in one, it is corrected across the board.
ReplyDeleteFrench - as long as it's not a design problem keeping over half of them off line. Yeah I know they say maintenance...
DeleteSteve S6
I'll be long gone to the "don't exist" catagory so I don't give a shit what happens in 12 years.
ReplyDeleteLet me be the first to say, "bogsidebunny did not kill themselves"....
DeleteThat's "Himself". I'm not Sam Brinton using an alias
DeleteFifty odd years ago the “experts” had their first meeting on climate change. Global cooling, global warming, now just plain climate change. And every year since, no less than twice a year, they fly by private jet, drive their limos to the conference, eat Kobo beef, and stay in luxurious hotel rooms. And they haven’t done one thing about it, other than give away our tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteNobody is going to get on a TV soapbox and push coal. While there is money in coal itself, the idea of sticking big things into Mother Earth and dragging out dirty stuff is not polite conversation. I came of age (passed 25) at the beginning of Man is Killing Earth, Don’t Drink the Water, Don’t Breathe air, but it didn’t make any difference because in 50 years (now) the upper half of North America would be buried by a mile of more of ice. Yes, everybody knows the United States will not become green in a dozen more years. But it sounds good, as do many Progressive ideas. Another dumb idea is the belief that stated Democratic ideas and plans will be introduced and completed simply because those people say so. Massive uses of coal by China and India do not matter, because they are somewhere else. It’s like going into a restaurant 40 years ago and seeing one side of an aisle marked “Smoking” and the other side “Non-Smoking.” Those cancerous chemicals were prohibited from crossing the line. The visuals said so.
ReplyDeleteChina, "(of questionable safety and design)", but then they repeat themselves.
ReplyDeleteSteve S6
Ive been heating with coal this winter. I have a small burner, good for a day's burn before it needs cleaning, but it puts out huge heat. I am looking at a new larger one, that will last 24 hours between filling.
ReplyDeletedaddy-o
Every time I see one of those long coal trains headed west to ship the coal to China, I think "Someday, we're going to regret selling that coal.".
ReplyDeleteFoundationally flawed.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase 'fossil fuel' is a marketing gimmick invented by Rockefeller a century ago.
Oil constantly develops, and has nothing to do with fossils.
The phrase 'fossil fuel' was invented to give the illusion of scarcity... to justify constantly raising prices.