The Sensible Response to Global Warming: Build 154 coal fired plants before they're banned...

[Junkdrawer]

What a country!

That mantra of Lone Star State toughness, "Don't mess with Texas," actually began as an antilittering campaign back in the 1980s. While the campaign saw some success, the energy-producing state has proved less capable in cutting back on other pollutants. According to the American Lung Association, both the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas are in the nation's top 10 for highest ozone levels, a major component of smog.

Now, some Texans fear their air will be further, well, messed with. The state is seeking permits to build some 16 new coal-fired power plants. And the Lone Star State isn't alone. Though talk of clean energy dominates the headlines, cheap, plentiful coal is staging a quiet comeback. According to the Department of Energy, 154 coal plants are being proposed nationwide, enough to power 93 million homes. While power grids nationwide are surely strained, the crush of new coal plants--typically dirtier than natural gas--is sparking brawls at state and local levels.

Gamble. But the old not-in-my-backyard fight over power plants has a new wrinkle, global warming-potential ammo for environmentalists and motivation for utilities. Analysts say the rush to build new plants is a calculated gamble by utilities that the federal government is poised to impose historic curbs on greenhouse gases-particularly with Democrats ensconced in Congress. By building now, utilities may grandfather in a new generation of plants that won't be required to bear the full brunt of future laws. Utilities say they're simply trying to meet the burgeoning demands of a growing country. But environmentalists aren't buying, and they vow to fight the coal plant expansion in every available forum.

In something of a twist, energy-friendly Texas has become the closely watched ground zero in this battle. Gov. Rick Perry expedited the permitting of the coal plants in October 2005, when he was under pressure from energy price hikes that came about in the wake of deregulation of the state's energy market back in 2002. Some customers saw electric bills jump 80 percent, in part because of rising natural gas prices and, some say, a botched formula that determines the rates charged by the biggest providers. Coal plants, Perry argued, would drive down costs and give a much-needed boost to the state's power grid. Earlier this fall, a report by the North American Electric Reliability Council buttressed at least part of Perry's argument, saying Texas is among regions most at risk for grid failure because future demands are expected to exceed capacity. "We need to make sure Texas stays ahead of the demand for energy," says Perry spokesperson Kathy Walt.

....

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061126/4coal.htm

[Deja Q]

1. Xcel energy is trying to use wind power, the last I read...

:thumbsup:

If new technologies could capture and transmute waste material (e.g. how photosynthesis allows plants to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen...), we'd be on a good start...

Hell, if I could get some of the expenses covered I'd take a big-ass loan to study science and find a solution.

[krispos42]

3. Xcel is fighting a clean-coal plant up in the North Country

I think in the Iron Range someplace.

I like coal plants as long as they are modern. Clean coal technology is probably the best we're going to be able to do with coal, but a modern coal plant has enough scrubbers to be pretty damn clean as well.

Not quite as clean as natural gas, but it beats the hell out of begging for oil from the Persian Gulf states. Bad enough we have to import oil from Canada and Mexico.

However, in the case of Texas, a large, mostly rural state with abundant sunshine and wind (dare I say 'hot air'?), they should be focusing on wind and solar power, mostly wind. Force the power companies to build wind turbines by not permitting coal or natural-gas power plants.

And make the power companies pay market rates for electricity pumped to the grid by private windmills. The way I understand it works now, if I were to build a wind turbine on my farm, and it was producing extra juice, I could only sell it to the utility company at a tenth of what it costs me to buy it back from them when the wind dies down. I would have to pump 10 kilowatt-hours into the grid to get back one kilowatt-hour of juice back without financial costs. It should probably be in the 80% range, not 10%.

Oh, and how about solar or wind ethanol distillation plants? I understand that ethanol plants use natural gas (imported, please note) to distill the ethanol. So how about using wind-turbine-powered electrical heating elements or focused solar energy to distill it instead? And for god's sake, can we please legalize hemp so we can use that instead of corn for the fermentation tanks? It grows like a weed (less fertilizers) and makes much more ethanol per bushel than corn.

However, we ultimately have to get a nuclear-fusion plant going. It is the only pollution-free way to supply our energy needs.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Look at it this way: They're not denying Global Warming is real anymore...

I guess that's some kind of progress... :shrug:

[kestrel91316]

4. If they do this, all is not completely lost. My alma mater,

Colorado State University, is working on a way to capture CO2 emissions from power plants and use that CO2 to make algae-sourced biodiesel. They are still doing research, and working out the kinks, but they have gotten over some major hurdles and it sounds viable (and I USED to think algae for biodiesel was a bunch of BS).

There's an excellent article about this in our alumni association magazine this month. Bryan Willson and the Engines and Energy Conversion Lab have a joint project with Jim Sears of Solix Biofuels. I'll look for a link.


http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2006/dec/08/inventor-turns-algae-into-fuel/

This links to a different article about the same thing.

[snappyturtle]

5. Great! We just moved to Texas......

fortunately, we're in Hill Country--west of Austin and an hour north of San Antonio. I have always noticed the extreme difference in air quality (we lived here for a year) when we visited my mother in law in Houston. The air there is oppressive and of course, humid.

[Junkdrawer]

6. Rolling Stone just picked up the story...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13159559/national_affairs_big_coals_dirty_move/

[Hotler]

7. Xcel wants to build a new one in Pueblo, Colorado

The PUC here in Colorado never seems to tell these guys no. They roll over and give them any increase in rate and any fee they want to charge us. Then the ceos give themselves more wages and bonuses