3 ms·
The cost comparison is flawed if it is accounting for secondary costs of coal, but not solar or wind. (Which will probably be lower than coal, although perhaps
by graeham 11y ago
The cost comparison is flawed if it is accounting for secondary costs of coal, but not solar or wind. (Which will probably be lower than coal, although perhaps not if accounting for vast land areas needed for generation and some rather nasty materials used in solar).
Does solar and wind have capacity to replace fossil fuel demand? These also have limitation is ability to match production to demand - perhaps storage technologies will reduce this limitation.
My understanding is current technologies in scrubbers can do a quite good job of removing particulates, and probably improve further with gasification. Not as familar with heavy metals.
The question the original article raises is why, when energy production is more sensitive to environmental issues, would people invest in coal. My points are that there are developments that could in the future lead to a much cleaner coal. Science fiction can and often does become reality.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoI believe you're making the wrong comparison. Coal is not to be compared to wind and solar. Coal is to be compared to natural gas. Natural gas produces far less CO2 per MW generated, and can be throttled quickly at combined cycle generation facilities. Coal _should_ be deprecated quickly for natural gas, as natural gas can backfill solar and wind generation. Coal is now down to about 30% of US generation capacity, and will continue to dwindle as coal plants are decommissioned or retrofitted to burn natural gas. As wind and solar continue to be deployed (which will only speed up with the 5 year production tax credit extension in December 2015), natural gas usage can be reduced (or even eliminated with utility scale battery storage). > The question the original article raises is why, when energy production is more sensitive to environmental issues, would people invest in coal. My points are that there are developments that could in the future lead to a much cleaner coal. Science fiction can and often does become reality. Clean coal has _never_ been proven to be cost competitive [1]. [1] http://energy.gov/fe/science-innovation/clean-coal-research/major-demonstrations/futuregen-20 http://energy.gov/fe/science-innovation/clean-coal-research/...