Eradication of Coal-Fired Power Plants
Everywhere we turn we see increased pressure to get rid of coal in the U.S. California has no coal-fired power plants, but 40% of Los Angeles’ electricity comes from the burning of coal in neighboring states. That, according to this announcement by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, will cease entirely by 2025.
In my estimation, the rapid eradication of coal that we see here in the U.S. is a function of a sea-change in public sentiment, and that, in turn, is the result of extremely effective campaigns to promote public understanding of the dangers of coal. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a public awareness campaign more effective than the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal,” and I’m not alone in pointing out the gigantic effect this has had on consumer consciousness in the energy space.
Congratulations to its architects, and to the people who continue to make it happen.
As we all know coal fired generation is dirty at best but there is a misconception out there that we need to be aware of as coal is replaced mostly by natural gas.
Natural gas is 50% cleaner than coal but dirty is dirty no matter how you cut it. The difference is the lack of sulfur in natural gas (among a few other pollutants)however natural gas still has a profound detrimental effect on air quality.
In central Utah there was a huge fight to stop a 130 megawatt coal fired plant from being built; the peoples voice finally won. However the same developers came back with a proposal to build a 530 megawatt combined cycle natural gas plant which in terms of air quality issues is just as bad if not more so than the coaler. In spite of the protests and up dated air quality data that show the harm this newly proposed plant would lay on the region the Utah division of air quality gave it a thumbs up. We need to be very careful about how we address these issues and make sure we aren’t just replacing bad with worse.