By William F. Shughart II
Washington Examiner
The Kemper County, Miss., power plant, once heralded as the future of clean coal, has become the poster child for its struggles.
Over-budget and mired in technical problems, the Southern Company, Kemper’s builder, recently announced that it’s giving up on the plant’s advanced coal-gasification systems. Instead, the plant will be powered solely by natural gas.
Renewable energy advocates and climate hawks had been expecting the announcement for months and reacted with predictable derision and high-fiving. But their gloating is foolish.
KING GEORGE, VA. (COAL AGE) —GE Power (NYSE: GE) today announced plans to convert its 242 MW coal-fired Birchwood Power facility in King George, Virginia, US into a Steam Plant Services Innovation Center.
The center, which provides sufficient electricity to power more than 240,000 homes, is to become a showcase for how the latest GE technologies can greatly increase the efficiency and flexibility of coal-fired steam power plants, while also reducing emissions.
By Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY)
Wyoming is America’s largest coal producing state, mining close to 40 percent of the coal consumed by our nation every year. Common estimates give Wyoming close to 145 billion tons of recoverable coal and 1.4 trillion tons in total coal reserves. This coal is a national treasure.
Heather Richards
Star-Tribune (Feb 13, 2017)
Sheridan County hasn’t experienced active coal mining since the last coal operation ceased in the 1980s, though it was once a booming coal community peppered with company towns.
That may soon change.
Cloud Peak Energy, which operates the Antelope and Cordero Rojo mines in Campbell County, recently applied for a federal permit to enhance roads and a rail spur between the non-operational Youngs Creek north of Ranchester and the bustling Spring Creek mine in Montana. The construction will facilitate the moving of equipment, coal and personnel between the two mines.
By JUDY HISLOP
WASHINGTON, DC (February 14, 2017) – The mix of fuels used to generate electricity in the United States has changed in response to differences in the expected cost of fuels and electricity-generating technology costs and their deployment, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
These factors, together with policies affecting emissions from power generation, will determine the generation fuel mix of the future.
Multiple cases in EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2017 (AEO2017) show how projected electricity generation is affected by fuel prices, especially natural gas prices, and the Clean Power Plan, a final Environmental Protection Agency rule issued in 2015 whose enforcement was stayed by the US Supreme Court in Feb. 2016 pending the resolution of legal challenges.
https://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/article.aspx?CDID=A-38515950-11566&KPLT=4
SNL, 11/29/2016
According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, total U.S. coal production for the week ended Nov. 19 picked up 6.6% year over year to 17.2 million tons, from 16.2 million tons during the same period last year.
For the 52 weeks ended Nov. 19, production posted a 19.8% year-over-year cutback to 739.8 million tonnes, while year-to-date coal output plunged 18.8% year over year to about 657.5 million tons through Nov. 19.
URL: http://www.4-traders.com/news/Daines-Pruitt-Will-Support-Coal-Jobs–23518297/
4-Traders.com, Steve Daines, 12/7/2016
U.S. SENATE -U.S. Senator Steve Daines today released the following statement on Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator: ‘I greatly appreciate the leadership Attorney General Pruitt has shown in suing to stop the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and look forward to watching him dismantle it piece by piece as EPA Administrator.’
‘I greatly appreciate the leadership Attorney General Pruitt has shown in suing to stop the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and look forward to watching him dismantle it piece by piece as EPA Administrator.’
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a23417/convert-co2-into-ethanol/?src=socialflowFB
Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have discovered a chemical reaction to turn CO2 into ethanol, potentially creating a new technology to help avert climate change. Their findings were published in the journal ChemistrySelect. [Go here for a new in-depth interview about the findings with one of the lead researchers.]
The researchers were attempting to find a series of chemical reactions that could turn CO2 into a useful fuel, when they realized the first step in their process managed to do it all by itself. The reaction turns CO2 into ethanol, which could in turn be used to power generators and vehicles.
Editor’s note: Dr. Brauer presented information on the Richland Community College / Illinois – Industry Carbon Capture and Storage project in the ACC’s May 15th Coal Q&A webcast. Dr Brauer’s presentation was titled “Carbon (Dioxide) Capture and Storage – Public Acceptance 101.” The PowerPoint slides and audio recording of the webcast are available to ACC members in the member section of the ACC website. This article provides further information on the methods used to obtain public support for the IL-ICCS project.
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Here’s an interesting research program being carried out by the Dept. of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy. The program is researching the use of coal combustion residuals as alternative growing media (read: soil substitutes) for their “green roof” program.
Living roof. Eco-roof. Vegetated roof. Known by a variety of names, green roofs – which are built on top of a conventional roof and are partially or completely covered by vegetation – have been around for thousands of years and are popular in many European countries, especially Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany. Because of their many benefits, including improved energy efficiency and enhanced regional biodiversity, green roofs are becoming increasingly popular in North America. According to the annual Green Roofs for Healthy Cities survey, the green roof industry grew a remarkable 24 percent from 2011 to 2012.
Daily News by Coal Age