Perpetual Innovation

Category: dirty secret

  • Inside the war on coal

    Inside the war on coal:

    Wow, this is a very thoughtful and well presented article on Coal.

    The real demise of coal is too fold: raising costs of trying to make coal a little cleaner (less dirty); and the increase of cheaper alternatives.

    Number 1 in all of this is the dirty cheap costs of NatGas which is a by-product of much oil production. We in the US flair about half of the NatGas we produce because it gets in the way of the valuable oil production process.

    NatGas is soooo much cleaner to burn and produces only half the CO2 emissions.

    As people and communities realize the real costs of burning (dirty) coal, the political will to back coal simply because it is cheap is seriously waning. As the externality costs start to mount, people are less inclined to have the plants in their back yard.

    But, the Sierra club can not take that much of the credit. Basic economics is ruling. The EPA wants cleaner coal, which makes it more expansive at the same time that NatGas, wind and solar are all getting better and cheaper.

    ‘via Blog this’

  • Falling Chinese Coal Consumption and Output Undermine Global Market – WSJ

    Falling Chinese Coal Consumption and Output Undermine Global Market – WSJ:

    Finally, Finally, Finally…

    China has finally started to cut back on it’s production and use of dirty coal. China now consumes far more than half of the world’s coal.

    It’s a perfect time for them to do so, with all energy prices so low, the Chinese economy growing slow(er) and the costs/consequences of pollution from coal becoming more and more conspicuous.

    It is also interesting that this article talks about peak coal. It seems that peak oil and peak coal have been pushed back with the overwhelming supply of cheap(er) oil and gas from new technologies (fracking, horizontal drilling, etc.)

    In China’s case it may be peak pollution, where the health costs, environmental costs and quality of life costs are are starting to overpower the perception of coal being a cheap energy source.

    Doing non-sustainable stuff, especially for long periods of time, has its costs and unintended consequences.

    Sustainable Growth…

    ‘via Blog this’

  • Pain in the Ash: Spill spews tons of coal ash into NC Dan River – CNN.com

    Spill spews tons of coal ash into North Carolina’s Dan River – CNN.com:

    Oh what a pain it is! … A Pain in the Ash, so to speak.

    One of the dirty little secrets of Coal is the ash!. The massive 2008 spill in TVA should have been a bit of a wakeup call. But this phone has been ringing for centuries. There’s impurities in coal, including sulfur and heavy metals like lead and arsenic. See the EPA letter on the TVA spill. And coal power releases 100 times as much radiation into the environment as a nuclear power plant. High concentrations of uranium and thorium are released into the environment around a plant from the fly ash. See APA on this ash issue.

    The other secrets are that about 10,000 people die in mines per year, most of them coal, and often in China. There’s the impact to air and water that many estimates impact the health of hundreds of millions of people.

    The bull in the China closet, of course, is — well — China. They burn more than half of the world’s coal right now. PRC is still opening still are opening 1 to 2 coal power plants per week, unless that has changed. And they are much less worried about how much pollution escapes into the air and water. The summer Olympics were distinctive for the air pollution, and athletes trying to compete in smog.

    This smog and pollution is “shared” with neighboring countries, and the world at large. Even the Americas on occasion get a beautiful sunset, complements of the Peoples Republic.

    As well, coal is a huge greenhouse gas producer of CO2, something that is invisibly shared with the whole of the planet… and no one knows what the true costs and full consequences are. But we do know that CO2 as a greenhouse gas lasts about 100 years, so whatever the impacts are, they will be very, very, very long lasting.

    Many economist suggest a tax on something that has distinctive, negative externalities. Maybe coal would be a candidate!? Taxes on cigarettes are an example. A gradual tax domestically seems logical. Maybe the rest of the world should tax all the coal that gets exported to China, as well. How about an import tax on those products that are primarily produced by dirty Chinese electricity?

    The dirty little secrets of coal are getting out. It’s been 2 centuries that coal has ruled the power infrastructure. It is time to seriously address this “open” secret.

    If you are a stockholder or a customer of Duke, it is time to give the Duke a nudge, and elbow, or even a brisk kick in the ‘ash!…

    ‘via Blog this’

  • EPA proposes strict emission limits on new power plants

    EPA proposes strict emission limits on new power plants:

    Coal power plants, especially new ones, are under fire.

    As well they should be. Deaths in mining, deaths and health associated with smog and pollution, and the dirty secret of coal ash are enough to make a sane person push back from more coal power plants.

    BUT, here’s the kicker. What if we ship all of our coal over to China and have them burn it without any of the scrubbers and safety that we have in the Sates. ???

    China now burns half of the world’s coal. It’s causing them some smog problems and social unrest, but …

    India, of course is increasing rapidly as well.

    If we don’t burn it hear, only to have it burned there, then what have we really gained? 🙁

    ‘via Blog this’

  • Dirty little Coal secrets… shhh …. Talking Tr-Ash…

    Sustainability eMagazine

    If you have never done so, you want to visit the EarthJustice site about coal ash: http://earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/coal-ash-contaminates-our-lives

    And what you want to do, is visit this site every time you see one of these sweet and pretty ads about “Clean Coal”.

    Admittedly, the EarthJustice takes the other side of this far, very far-from-clean, source of energy. However, coal produces half of the electric power in the US. Well, all right, now only about 34%. But that “cheap” energy has a lot to do with the high quality of life that we all enjoy. It also does not get credit for the hidden costs it presents to the environment and to personal health.

    Back to the dirty little secret of Coal Ash. Remember the Ash trashing by TVA in 2008. The damage is into the billions of dollars and climbing. And it has not been cleaned up. All those heavy metals in the ash down a couple rivers. Sadly, that’s a gift that keeps on giving.

    Heavy metals include lead, mercury, arsenic and more. Sulfur, lots of sulfur. They can have traces of radiation. We, in the US, tend to want to clean most of these by-products from this soot from the smoke. Other countries like India and China, not so much so.

    And we have these ash build-ups all over the world…. And the mountains are growing.

    Here’s just one source on the running costs and litigation at ABC News.

    Of course is the worst fossil fuel, by far, in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

    We don’t need to burn that dirty coal, better simply to ship it to China and India and let them burn it there. No harm done in that.