Nice editorial on renewable. I’m not sure that coal will go away on short order. I fully agree that coal mining more than anything is horrible and has reshaped our landscapes in brutal ways along with devastating health impacts to those who live near the slag ponds connected with it. The reality is that whatever form of renewable grows, and I believe there is an optimal position for all alternatives to contribute, coal will not fade away in short order. It’s simply too cheap and well entrenched to “dizapear” as the Governator of CA would say.

The best that can be done in my personal opinion is to engage merchant power producers using coal and provide viable alternatives that allow them to implement against pressing energy growth demands. We need to create converts out of stalwarts as mounting regulations and mandates come to the fore. Critical mass will occur when compliance for smoke stack power is just too expensive compared to cleaner alternatives. Without this phase in period and conciliatory approach we will cut off our legs before we have a chance to stand up with new technologies. Antagonistic approaches will further stall alternatives because current thinking will point to the fact that alternatives are theory and they need proven technology. We need to get past this chicken and egg situation, linkup with power distributors that are focused on renewable, and enlist them to help entice merchant producers to try small scale deployments of alternatives to meet RPP growth demands.

This is no different than when Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute first started preaching energy conservation. In that scenario he ran into lots of resistance; why would an industry embrace conservation and efficiency when its product was the consumption of energy? He thought it through and showed through economics that this path would allow a larger customer base potential with existing capital resources. Translation; more money without much more investment in generating plants due to larger customer service base and related hook up charges. Take a look at your electrical utility bill and you’ll see that your actual payment due to kilowatts used is only about half the bill. The rest are fixed base costs. Wow, what a deal for the utilities, encourage conservation and efficiency and make more money with your existing plant. Eventually it clicked in and is now a standard mantra with power merchants and distributors alike!

Likewise we need a similar model for clean energy, one that entices the realization of profit against pain points, not one that comes out with guns blazing looking to shoot the bad guy. Clearly I don’t defend environmental recklessness, coal miners need to clean up their acts and realize that their days are numbered, but that day is long in coming within our lifetime. Let’s show them the way by filling in their need for plant capacity can in fact be served without another coal plant. Like Amory, let’s show them the light on the business case, the no brainer, and ultimately the reality of ever squeezing regulatory pressure that will cause them great pain by not being proactive. Deploying HyPEGS and similar technologies is potentially far less costly than siting and building yet another coal plant. Let’s work to get them on board, not be an adversary. Change requires coming together, not schism.

I agree. I maintain conservative political views, but personally, I have always associated environmentalism as separate from left-right bickering. Although it gets mired down by politics, the implications of clean energy are far greater than any political perspectives.

Certainly, political realities need to be confronted, but political posturing is merely ephemeral drama compared to the stakes that are in play with our environment.