Category Archives: Coal

Call to action for City Council not to sell water to biomass plant –Karen Noll @ VCC 24 March 2011

Karen Noll of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, asked the Valdosta City Council not to sell wastewater to the proposed Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant. She presented
“500+ signatures from community members and organizations”
asking for that. She also said
“…furthermore a response to our request each member of the council is expected before the next council meeting.”
Here’s the video.


WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, at
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Current costs of major power sources

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, here are the current costs of coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind (onshore and offshore), solar (electrical and hot water), geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric:

Here’s a four page explanation of that table.

Coal is not the cheapest: natural gas is. Onshore wind actually costs about the same as coal, and less than nuclear. Offshore wind is currently about 2.5 times more expensive.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) currently costs a bit more than twice as much as coal, and already less than offshore wind.

The table does not take into account the environmental costs of the various power sources, or obviously coal would fare far worse, and biomass would not be rated anywhere near as good as wind.

Remember, the cost of solar is falling rapidly, so solar will rapidly become more cost-effective compared to other energy sources.

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Offshore wind energy cheaper than nuclear –EU climate chief

Inland south Georgia doesn’t have much wind, probably not enough to generate significant electricity, but wind farms off the Georgia coast could. Now we hear fromm Zachary Shahan in Clean Technica that Offshore Wind Energy Cheaper than Nuclear Energy, EU Climate Chief Says:
EU climate chief Connie Hedegaard has added that offshore wind energy is cheaper than nuclear.

…

“Some people tend to believe that nuclear is very, very cheap, but offshore wind is cheaper than nuclear,”

He’s picking up the story from the Guardian, in which Fiona Harvey and Terry Macalister wrote 17 March 2011: Continue reading →

Particulate matter is a killer. –Lisa Jackson, EPA, 17 March 2011

Listening to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about EPA’s proposed new mercury rules, for me, the live feed on facebook did not work, but the one on whitehouse.gov did. A few quotes:
Particulate matter is a killer. We know it results in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

That matches some local concerns in Lowndes County.

How much of a killer? Continue reading →

Georgia Power plans to decertify two coal plants

According to gapower’s own press release:
ATLANTA, March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Georgia Power expects to request approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission to decertify two coal-generating units totaling 569 megawatts, the company announced Wednesday.

The request to decertify units 1 and 2 at Plant Branch in Putnam Co. will be included in Georgia Power’s updated Integrated Resource Plan filing with the commission in late summer. The company expects to ask for decertification of the units as of the effective dates of the Georgia Multipollutant Rule, which are currently anticipated to be Dec. 31, 2013 for unit 1 and Oct. 1, 2013 for unit 2.

The decision to decertify the units is based on a need to install environmental controls to meet a variety of existing and expected environmental regulations.

“After an extensive analysis of the cost to comply with environmental regulations, we have determined the continued operation of these units would be uneconomical for our customers,” said Georgia Power President and CEO Paul Bowers. “This decision is in keeping with our focus to provide affordable and reliable electricity for our customers.”

This matches with a report from last July that gapower was turning away from coal. And they suspended work on Plant Branch a year ago. Unfortunately, mostly they’re turning to natural gas and nuclear. Continue reading →

This morning: Talk to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about the Clean Air Act

Worried about mercury or other toxic chemicals? Ask EPA what they’re going to do about it.
Join Administrator Jackson for a special White House live chat on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards tomorrow, Thursday, March 17 at 10:55 a.m. EDT. Administrator Jackson will be joined by young people who are passionate about this issue and the discussion will be moderated by Kalpen Modi of the Office of Public Engagement.

Submit your questions for Administrator Jackson now in a comment on Facebook. And be sure to watch live tomorrow morning at whitehouse.gov/live or join the conversation on Facebook.

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Sunshot: solar cheaper than coal in six years

Solar is expensive at the moment, but that could change rapidly. David Biello writes in Scientific American yesterday:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) aims to change that by bringing down the cost of solar electricity via a new program dubbed “SunShot,” an homage to President John Kennedy’s “moon shot” pledge in 1961.

“If you can get solar electricity down at [$1 per watt], and it scales without subsidies, gosh, I think that’s pretty good for the climate,” notes Arun Majumdar, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA–e), the DoE’s high-risk research effort. “With SunShot, the goal is to reduce the cost of solar to [$1 per watt] in the next six years.”

Hm, so maybe Ray Kurzweil is right.

DoE Secretary Chu even thinks we could win something else:

“Just because we lost the lead doesn’t mean we can’t get it back,” Chu said. “We still have the opportunity to lead the world in clean energy…but time is running out.”
Meanwhile, we could shift fossil fuel subsidies over to solar and get on with it.

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The politics of climate change denial

Why do some people deny the overwhelming science of climate change in a time when the evidence and analysis is so thorough and so conclusive that no reputable scientific organization in the world doubts any longer that humans are changing the climate of the whole planet for the worse: because it threatens their political and economic beliefs. Naomi Klein: Why Climate Change Is So Threatening to Right-Wing Ideologues:
And the reason is that climate change is now seen as an identity issue on the right. People are defining themselves, like they’re against abortion, they don’t believe in climate change. It’s part of who they are.
It’s like denying the earth goes around the sun. Why would they identify with such a silly thing? Because of what actually dealing with climate change would mean: Continue reading →

VDT and WCTV on WACE anti-biomass meeting

The first word is the key word in David Rodock’s VDT article today, Opponents to proposed biomass plant speak out at meeting:
Experts from a variety of fields presented the health risks, pollution and water issues, and other concerns involved with the construction of a biomass plant in Valdosta Thursday at the Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) forum held Thursday evening.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) has repeatedly claimed to have a long list of experts on its side; Brad Lofton wants everyone to see him read his laundry list of authorities and experts. “I will proudly share it with everyone,” he says. The VDT points out that there are experts who are against the plant. Experts whom the VLCIA can’t even bring itself to name, only allude to as “folks come into the community”.

Even the caption on the VDT picture is telling: Continue reading →

Pro-Coal Electric Co Exec indicted

Sue Sturgis writes in Facing South, Corruption scandal casts shadow over Georgia coal plant projects:
The leader of a metro Atlanta electric co-op was indicted last week on 31 counts of criminal wrongdoing, heightening concerns about planned coal-fired power plants that he’s played a key role in promoting.

Dwight Brown (in mugshot), president and CEO of Cobb Electric Membership Corp., faces 16 counts of theft, three counts of racketeering, 10 counts of making false statements, and one count each of conspiracy to defraud the Cobb County government and the Cobb County school district, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. Brown’s attorney says his client is innocent.

Innocent until proven guilty, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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