The Story of Coal. One of the many challenges faced by the clean energy and energy efficiency industries is the problem of communicating the impact of fossil fuel energy use.
We’ve often discussed how flipping a light switch seems like a simple, clean act--no mess, no visible pollution, no visible impact--when in reality the fossil fuels burned to create electricity have an enormous collective impact. This great video from SunRun Home Energy does as good a job as we’ve seen at articulating the very real impact of our reliance on coal as a source of electricity. While the usual language surrounding carbon emissions (tons, pounds... isn’t this a gas?)
Is often difficult for the average Joe to wrap his head around, SunRun’s use of balloons and train cars is easy to visualize and understand. We like that. Give it a gander: A thanks to Treehugger for the tip. Even More Coal Ash Poison Found in Drinking Water. The December 2008 Tennessee coal ash spill.
Photo Credit: Lyndsay Moseley, Sierra Club The words "hexavalent chromium" may not be ones you come across everyday, but they have made the news before. The deadly toxin first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now, new information from a joint report indicates that this chemical leaks readily from leaking coal ash dump sites maintained for coal-fired power plants. The joint report (PDF) comes from public interest law firm Earthjustice, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Environmental Integrity Project and the Sierra Club.Coal ash is the by-product of burning coal for power, and there are hundreds of coal ash wet and dry storage sites around the U.S. Beyond hexavalent chromium, coal ash contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, selenium and many other chemicals that can cause cancer and damage the nervous system and organs, especially in children.
Plans for 150 US Coal Plants Have Been Scrapped Since 2001. Photo credit: lowjumpingfrog via Flickr/CC BY Purdue University has just announced that it's scuttling plans to build a coal plant to provide power to its campus in Indiana.
That closure, the Sierra Club tells Reuters, marks something of a happy milestone: It's the 150th coal plant to be abandoned in less than a decade. So what's spurred the spree of ditching coal? There are a number of factors indeed, the ever-growing consensus that they're contributing to the warming of our planet -- and that they'll be bad for business in the none-too-distant future -- chief among them. Oh yeah, and natural gas got cheaper too.
Wallstreetjournal. Peak. Wsj. Energieproductie. Coalreport.pdf (application/pdf-object) Kansas King Coal Funding Details Exposed. Kansas lawmakers pass bill favoring coal expansion. By Carey Gillam OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - Backed by powerful business interests, Kansas lawmakers on Tuesday overturned a 2007 decision that rejected a coal-fired power plant expansion in the state, though the vote fell shy of a veto-proof majority.
Lawmakers in the Kansas House voted Tuesday 77-45 for a bill that would allow two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. The measure strips authority from Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Rod Bremby, who last year rejected the expansion because of health risks associated with carbon dioxide emissions and global warming concerns. Sunflower Electric Power Corp wants to add two 700-megawatt units at an existing facility in western Kansas, and the ruling against the utility prompted outrage from business groups and a Republican-led contingent of state legislators who said the project would create jobs, provide badly needed energy for the area and would keep electricity rates in check.