MetaFilter posts tagged with energy and coal

Yesterday's Energy of Tomorrow...and more

Miko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:05:33 -0800

Peak Oil, 1925. In 2000, 20% of new buildings will be solar equipped. By the late 1990s, 90% of the world's energy will be nuclear-generated. These and other erroneous projections are being collected as part of the Forecast Project on the website Inventing Green: The Lost History of Alternative Energy in America.

China coal powerplant myths debunked

stbalbach — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:44:25 -0800

MIT report debunks China energy myth. A detailed analysis of powerplants in China by MIT researchers debunks the widespread notion that outmoded energy technology or the utter absence of government regulation is to blame for that country's notorious air-pollution problems.

China's power sector has been expanding at a rate roughly equivalent to three to four new coal-fired, 500 megawatt plants coming on line every week.. most of the new plants have been built to very high technical standards, using some of the most modern technologies available.. [but] market pressures encourage plant managers to buy the cheapest, lowest quality and most-polluting coal available, while at the same time idle expensive-to-operate smokestack scrubbers or other cleanup technologies.. "the kinds of technology currently being adopted in China are not cheap. They're not buying junk, and in some cases the plants are employing state-of-the-art technology." The Chinese state has substantially improved its ability to implement and enforce rules on technology standards. It has been slower, however, to develop such abilities for monitoring the day-to-day operations of energy producers.

Part of the continuing story of Chinese lack of oversight plaguing the food industry, lead in toys, etc..

Coal.

brownpau — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:51:56 -0800

Coal. Cheap, Abundant, Clean.

Down The Mine

homunculus — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:50:29 -0800

Down The Mine. An essay on coal mining as seen by George Orwell in 1937. [Via The Huffington Post.]

Peak Coal?

Crotalus — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:40:28 -0800

Is the USA the Saudi Arabia of Coal? Not so fast! It appears that US coal reserves have been grossly overstated. (See also this report in PDF format.) Does this mean we've already hit peak coal in the lower 48? How does this change the plans of those who want to use CTL to ease our dependence on foreign oil.

US Energy Flows

pombe — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:12:55 -0800

Lawrence Livermore National Lab produces fascinating charts of energy flow in the US (more). More energy use statisitics can be found at the Energy Information Administration.

Big OilCoal. The other black fossil fuel.

stbalbach — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:02:32 -0800

The average American uses 20 pounds of coal a day. "our shiny white iPod economy is propped up by dirty black rocks.. I see more people dying of particle air pollution than are dying of AIDS." Coal accounts for nearly 40 percent of America's carbon dioxide emissions. Big Coal by Jeff Goodell.

So, umm.....about that oil in Iraq....

troutfishing — Wed, 24 Sep 2003 06:53:29 -0800

Wind Power cheaper than coal, electric car does 0 to 60 in 3.7 w/300 mile cruising range

It's official: wind power is now cheaper than electricity from Coal, Stanford Researchers report in a study published in the Journal Science. Quiz for Metafilter science wonks: how much of current US energy consumption could be supplied by spending 200 billion dollars on wind turbines?

Meanwhile...Powered by 6800 lithium-ion batteries, the Tzero "from zero to 100 and through the quarter mile, will run with, or beat, the $281,000 Lamborghini Murci