Archive for Coal
Things are slowly but irresistibly changing in the United States. Wind power added ten gigawatts of capacity to the grids last year alone and coal is less and less used to generate electricity.
Meanwhile, a nuclear renaissance may be under way in America as last month President Obama announced a $8.3 billion (6 billion euros) loan to build in Georgia the first reactors in 30 years.
I dream of America being powered with 40 percent nuclear, 40 percent renewables and only 20 percent thermal. There is a long way to go but could this become a reality ? Continue »
I believe fossil fuels will be replaced sooner or later by electricity. This might prove to be a good thing as heat pumps and electric vehicles are two excellent energy efficient solutions.
Thus, electric consumption is rising and is due to keep rising in the next decades. Having low carbon sources to generate electricity is very thus important for a country.
This is the occasion for me to propose you data on the carbon intensity and origin of electricity generation in some affluent countries. Continue »
It is a well known fact, coal-fired plants are by far the most carbon dioxide intensive energy source. Now according to an article on Celsias coal ash is also much more radioactive than nuclear waste.
The massive coal sludge accident in Tennessee last year showed that coal-fired plants can massively destroy ecosystems. This adds up to the already well documented air and water pollution induced by such solutions.
It is high time we work on cutting coal consumption around the world. For example, decreasing American coal consumption by 62 % is feasible. Continue »
As Bloomberg noted : ” China and India’s joint plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions gives the developing world an alternative to the climate treaty that wealthier nations want them to sign in Copenhagen, analysts said.”
“Asia’s two biggest polluters from burning carbon-based fuels announced their collaboration on renewable power and energy-efficiency projects in a memo of understanding yesterday in New Delhi.”
This regional agreement between two of the world’s largest greenhouse gases emitters is good news 50 days before the UN climate talks in Copenhagen. Continue »
Alstom and various US partners have been testing carbon capture on a small Wisconsin coal-fired plant. After a year of testing, this pilot project is a success as 90 percent of carbon dioxide was captured.
The French company is willing to commercialize CCS for new and existing coal fired plants as early as 2015. But for this to happen the technology will have to increase its scale to fit plants bringing hundreds of megawatts to the grids.
This is important news as coal-fired plants are a major source of greenhouse gases emissions around the world as still many countries rely on this fuel for their electricity generation. Continue »
After the quite encouraging news of Wednesday I would like to present you a study showing that the United States’ government still gives much more money to polluting fossil fuels industries rather than lower carbon solutions.
This occurs as I noted last year than to the UNEP cutting the subsidies given to big oil and coal companies would cut by up to six percent per year global greenhouse gases emissions.
I believe it is high time we globally stop giving $300 billion (200 billion euros) per year to these companies and fund any company working on low carbon alternatives and energy efficiency projects. Continue »
According to a study to be released in November by the International Energy Agency, global greenhouse gases emissions decreased by no less than 2.6 percent. This can be explained by several factors.
Among these factors are the economic recession which decreased the emissions of the global industrial sector but also the various commitments of the United States, the European Union and China.
In the Washington Post, Lester Brown noted that US emissions went down by no less than nine percent over the last two years, ending a century of increasing emissions. Continue »
It is a well known fact : American per capita greenhouse gases emissions are among the world’s highest because of massive consumption of both oil and coal. But to a new study Australian per capita emissions are exceeding the US.
One of the main reason is the country’s electricity production which mostly comes from the dirtiest energy solution : coal. Since the country ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2007 I have been wondering if it been doing enough on climate change.
It seems it’s not the case. The new government may be willing to cut emissions and tackle the threat of warming temperatures but a real political consensus is lacking for action. Continue »
I was wondering if we as Mankind could clean up coal and if it was worth the hassle. Indeed, Carbon Capture and Storage seems promising but is too little too late to solve our climate change problems.
To an article on the New York Times, an alternative to CCS could drastically cut greenhouse gases emissions from coal-fired plants. Called IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) it sounds promising.
As Ecogeek noted, it already exists and consumes a third less coal than standard plants to generate the same quantity of electricity. It is not fantastic, but it’s a start… Continue »
According to a recent report published by a US environmental organization, fossil fuels are due to cost the United States up to $23 trillion between 2010 and 2030. To TreeHugger, these energy sources cost one trillion in 2008 alone.
85 percent of US energy comes from coal, oil and natural gas. This leaves only 15 percent to low carbon energy sources. Energy efficiency would enable American businesses and citizens to save huge amounts of money.
In this regard, both the new mileage requirements and cap-and-trade are steps in the right direction but are to little to really change the situation. Continue »
