With all the ads from the self proclaimed "clean coal" lobby running ad nauseum on TV, I had to snicker at this article in the NYT today about a county in eastern Pennsylvania where coal seams run all over the place. In order to save money in the increasingly volatile energy marketplace they are actually considering switching from coal to natural gas. While methane is actually more expensive per unit, the cost savings would come from the maintenance in boilers -- it's much less expensive to operate a gas heater than a coal one.
It's somewhat controversial for those who rely on the coal industry, especially as the cost of anthracite has doubled over the last few years. Coal also has a sentimental value in the region for obvious reasons. But the bid being put forward by the gas interest includes energy efficient lighting and upgrades to the county phone system. For a cash-strapped region, $15 million in savings is a lot of money.
Interestingly, Clinton had her largest percentage vote in the Keystone State in and around this region. Long ago, she sold her soul to King Coal -- and she was rewarded with votes. The claims she "appealed" to the working class is bunk; she knew where her bread was buttered and the people in the region expressed their gratitude accordingly. An ideology right out of the era of the machines which we thought ended in the 1930s.
From a Canadian perspective, we're seeing serious talk about the revival of coal mines long mothballed because of their polluting nature -- because of the increasing demands for power and the lack of support for alternatives in part because of NIMBY. Again, the earliest we can expect "clean coal," presuming it can be made to work (a big if) is 2020 which is when the next round of emission targets are supposed to be met; and we have a government quite content to continue to pollute to the heavens and beyond while reducing "intensity" while increasing actual outputs of carcinogens and other disease causing elements.
Not that the people at the permanent public service in Ottawa -- particularly Public Works -- are entirely innocent on this one either. Here in Hamilton, there's a co-generation plant downtown that operates using steam diverted by pipeline from the steel and chemical plants. Literally, free or very low cost heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. Guess which building is not plugged into the network? Yup -- the brand new federal offices; while older office buildings agreed to be connected. They'd rather be powered by the huge coal plant in Nanticoke; which is scheduled for shutdown in a few years but is still running at full speed especially in the current heatwave making smog even worse. Oddly enough, the former federal offices (scheduled to be converted into a hotel or lofts) ran on solar power. There isn't even a windmill on top of the new building.
Hypocrites. Both federally and provincially.
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1 comment:
As China builds a Coal Fired Generating plant every week . . . you sit an wring you hands over coal.
There is enough coal in Montana to supply US energy for almost 200 years . . . it could be liquified and used to fuel autos and trucks. But the envirowhacks stand in the way. The technology exists to do this, it was done in Germany in the 40's.
As us dumb canooks pay almost $6 for a gallon of gas . . . . maybe we will wake up and start liquifying our massive coal reserves. We can also start drilling for oil off our coasts and in the arctic.
Do you think that if us 30 odd million dummies sit in the dark and eat grass that we will save the world from GW?
Even the fradulent IPCC has declared GW is on hold . . . while 31,000 scientists sign a petition to say what a fraud GW is!!!
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