However you look at it, the local big power companies in my state say they are saving $10-15M annually by converting coal plants to gas. A lot less operating complexity. And solar and wind just pump power directly into the grid, no plant needed. The windmills are made in Pueblo, Colorado, not China.
Every windmill in my region comes a few hundred miles down the interstate from Pueblo. And this includes the huge wind farms in west Texas. Gas = natural gas. Coal is a loser that will never again be a dominant source of power generation. The toxic waste clean up and disposal issues alone are a huge cost.That’s not what you said. You said “In my state, natural gas, wind, and solar are all cheaper than coal”. You did not say “gas” . So you are contradicting yourself in consecutive posts.
What? Are you trying to get us to believe the solar plant or the wind plant is not a “plant”?
Of course it is! Also there are enormous battery systems needed in some cases to store the electricity made during sunny or windy hours. Another part of the “plant”.
OK, so now ALL windmills are made in Pueblo, CO?
NONE are made overseas?
Come on big guy, let’s keep it real, K?
Not ONE of these top 15 windmill producers is an American company. I know you won’t believe that, so open the link below and see for yourself.
For coal, servicing the boiler is the top item (corrosion and deposits from coal combustion on the air side, and deposits and corrosion on the water/steam side) followed fairly closely by condensers. Fluidized bed coal combustion generally has lower air side deposits than just straight coal. Servicing coal boilers takes a fair amount of down time to cool, service, and then reheat. Downtime is very costly from the lost sales perspective. The coal fired steam turbines are easy peasy in comparison. Compared to coal, natural gas combustion doesn't have anywhere near the air side deposits if it is a natural gas to steam plant, but many new natural gas generation facilities are straight gas turbines (think jet planes) with directly coupled generators, much lower service requirements, and not all of it requires shutting generation down.
IDK. But I do know that coal ash cleanup is high maintenance and it’s toxic waste so the disposal requires special and costly procedures to reduce soil and water pollution.
If the above about Columbia University is true, it should be used to test nuclear weapons.
But China sure knows how to get things done!
In a sense, your electronics degrees are trade school education. Just up a level or two from, let's say, carpentry.
I think you might be surprised what goes on at universities like columbia. Where the teachers take it upon themselves to discuss those 8 phrases. She recounts how it was talked about by the professor. IF one is doing it. IM sure there were others. im going to go out on a limb and say you aren't going to find this in a search. As it is a little wild to be feeding that to young minds. With that said i do believe most colleges are in it for the young adults. Although the NIL is really altering how college players are getting paid. But thats whole different subject.
It's fun to complain about China's pollution until it's time to use just about anything, as it was likely made in China.The U.S. consumes almost 2.5 times the amount of energy as China per capita.
China uses double the amount of electricity than the U.S. but has 4 times as many people as the U.S.
On electricity generation:
China uses about 9.5 times as much coal as the U.S.
The U.S. uses 6 times as much natural gas.
China uses about 4 times as much hydro.
The U.S. uses about 1.7 as much nuclear.
China uses twice the wind power.
China uses about 2.5 more solar power.
China uses about 2.5 more oil.
China uses about 4 times as much biomass.
The US uses geothermal and China doesn't.
So...
China produces carbon dioxide emissions 190% above the global average per capita, but the U.S. produces 285% above the global average per capita.
So somehow we're entitled to consume way more energy and produce way more pollution per person than China, yet complain about China's energy consumption and production methods?
In 2021 I bought the lowest priced Woodmizer, opting to buy from a manufacturer on this continent. A neighbor bought a Woodland Mill, which is made to specs in China for a US or Canadian company.
Most modern gas plants are combined cycle for the greatest efficiency. A gas turbine directly drives a generator, then there is heat recovery from the gas turbine exhaust that produces steam and drives a steam turbine driven generator. Combined Cycle Plant
I think there are better places to put solar. How many warehouses are in the state and country. Surely we could utilize that space. Its what other countries do. I do know that it was something that was tried but fires became a problem and insurance companies probably dont want that expense. The fires were probably b/c it was done cheap and steps were skipped to keep costs down.
As a forester I wish there was more bio-energy generating plants to produce power. In my region there is one in northeastern Arizona and another one proposed in the Flagstaff area. Wood chips are not as economical as natural gas for an energy source, but when you look at the larger picture it makes sense. Having an outlet for forestry thinning material would reduce high severity wild fires and all of the negative outcomes: infrastructure damage, lives lost, flooding, soil erosion, lost timber, and rehabilitation costs such as soil stabilization and reforestation.
We’re on the same page. But it would be interesting to know what the land ownership you saw is. A lot of Canadian forest lands are industry owned, not the national government. Then I’m sure that the Canadian forest service has to operate on appropriated budgets like we do in the U.S. Often there’s not funding to treat hundreds of thousands of acres that need fuels reduction and forest thinning. That’s why a biomass market and generating plant would help the situation.
