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The point is to shift gradually away from coal. Why build new coal plants when we still have old pollution belching coal plants right on top of major metro areas?
I love how some say that we "CAN'T" change. Thank God this generation wasn't running things back in the days of the Rev. War. You people make me sick with your "CAN'T DO" spirit.
Why not just go with CO2 capture and recycling? Experimental plants are planned that do just that. I believe the first one was slated for Canada, another for Minnesota. That way, we don't put thousands of workers out of the job, but instead create new jobs.
God-forbid someone actually care about the enviroment and be in politics. On a sidenote, the coal companies have made billions while not caring about the earth nor the workers removing the coal. To hell with the coal companies. There are plenty of other forms of energy.
except coal powers over 65% of our current electricity use. Shutting them down till throw the US back into the early 1800's
With the money that was squandered in Iraq we could have already developed a greater transmission line infrastructure grid throughout many rural areas of the Midwest and Plains to transmit wind energy to the population centers. Wind energy could easily make up a very large percentage of the total electricity generated in many Great Plains states if we could just invest in the infrastructure. A great paradox exists. North Dakota is actually a coal state when it should be exporting electricity generated from large scale wind farms. If we invested in a direct fashion in these areas we would truly benefit in the long-term and our energy picture would also have greater stability.
What's it going to take for you people to understand that wind is a INTERMITTENT resource??????? It will never replace baseload generation like coal and nuke. I just put a RFP together for 50 Mws of ICCI engines to BACK up wind. I can't wait till the lights go out and we'll see who crys the loudest
Do you know what it takes to make alternative forms of energy as mainstream?
MONEY
Take away the $5,000 PER SECOND spent in Iraq and you free up alot of money for other issues.
Wind, solar, hydro, etc CAN become mainstream.
That is out of touch with reality. No one ever does it and if they try, the envirofreaks get is killed.
We have wind farms (Cattaragus County & on the Lake Erie shore): the envirofreaks don't like the looks or the fact a bird might fly into them. We have hydroelectric: Niagara Falls and it is limited by govt. agreements on how much water can be used and how many turbines... Canada and US agreement for since it started... the electric goes mostly to NYC and up here we get ripped off. Solar isn't really plausible when we don't have the best of sunlight angles and incredibly sunny days. So, yeah, those things can be mainstream someplaces. Not all. Personally, I kind of like my natural gas heat and have no problem with coal. Stop living in the enviro-bubble.
Nothing happens "immediately" in this country, especially if it involves legislation.
I just hope those that are against it are consistent. Just because McCain didn't use the word "bankrupt" doesn't mean his idea won't have ramifications on the coal industry:
But won't most or all of these coal jobs be replaced by other energy production? Nuclear for instance?
The energy sources we must turn to in the 21st century are: wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels from switchgrass, and geothermal.
Many states have a renewable portfolio standard that requires that large percentage of the electricity generated must come from renewable sources. Also, the manufacturing of equipment like wind turbines is now becoming more efficient and cheaper with advances in technology. Manufacturing of equipment occurs quickly, and wind farms can be brought on line much faster than a conventional electricity generating plant. Energy efficiency and conservation must also be emphasized as well.
If we do these things and "diversify" the energy portfolio we can gradually shift away from coal, and close to oldest and most polluting plants. I don't think most people disagree with my thoughts regarding this issue. The more we diversify the better off everyone will be. It takes time, however.
In terms of subsidies someone posted a link on a different thread. The percentage of subsidies is highest for the oil, gas, and coal industries.
The coal industry produced 1,946 billion kilowatthours with subsidies of 854 million dollars. Comparatively the wind industry produced 31 billion kilowatthours with 724 million doallars in subsidies. That's 62X more for the coal industry for the same amount of money. See table ES1.
Note there is listing for refined coal which is for conversion to liquid fuels. Feel free to throw that in if you want but you're still way out of the ballpark on what it costs on a per kilowatt basis
I love how some say that we "CAN'T" change. Thank God this generation wasn't running things back in the days of the Rev. War. You people make me sick with your "CAN'T DO" spirit.
We CAN do anything ...How many people do you want to die to get it done? You want to play God and tell us who to frezze to death first
The bottom line is that people (some people) are afraid of change. No one is asking for coal to be shutdown overnight. That is extremely impossible. However, I would love to see them EVENTUALLY gone, so my 13-month old son has some sort of future without having to choke on pollution.
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