Posted on 06/10/2004 6:43:00 AM PDT by toddst
Agreed. One form of power that solves most problems (as pointed out in another post) is nuclear. I hope George W. will push for nuclear after he's re-elected.
Candles and kerosene indoors for light and cooking! Talk about soot floating around!
Heck, just the extra accidental fires will probably kill more people than this "report" claims from power plant soot.
I think you're on to something.
Many years ago I worked at a power plant while I was in college.
One of the things they did every day was to "blow soot". The procedure was to send a huge blast of compressed air up the stacks to remove soot which had accumulated during the day.
This was always the first task of the graveyard shift operator, which meant that it happened at midnight every single day, effectively preventing anyone from seeing the huge cloud of soot being released. Even on the clearest nights, the stars could not be seen for 1/2 hour after blowing soot.
I am not for that. Far too messy and a very dirty bomb sitting on our soil. Better ways to go about it than nuclear.
Golly, do you think it is possible that pollution controls might have improved things since "many years ago?"
Not really. Coal or nuc are the only practical options, but what do you think are the "better ways?"
I highly suspect this is a static analysis that does not take into account the incentives under the Clear Skies plan that would result in a faster reduction in soot. A static analysis was used during Reagans term and for Bush's latest tax cut to project increasing deficits due to tax cuts.
Maybe, maybe not. Soot is very hard to control.
I bet you had never heard of the practice of "blowing soot", and I bet they still do it at midnight.
TRANSLATION: We're All GONNA DIE!
ping
First, we can tap into our own oil reserves. Second, we could make cars much more efficient without compromise to occupant comfort and safety. Third, we could make homes much more efficient without significant added expense.
Are these things enough. I'm not sure. I do know that at our home our electric bill averages $48.00 a month while my neighbors are paying $180 a month average. That's a pretty big difference and if everyone did that, certainly it would make an impact.
No sense arguing with nuc-o-phobes, Dude. They get all the scientific knowledge they need from Jane Fonda movies.
As noted above, there is more radioactivity generated by coal powered plants than by all the nuclear generating activity in the history of the earth. Hell, people living in Denver are exposed to more radioactivity on a single sunny day than was released by Three Mile Island (which, BTW, worked as designed in an emergency).
Heard from DIH lately?
Right on target. And how many of them smoked?
Here we agree - long overdue
Second, we could make cars much more efficient without compromise to occupant comfort and safety.
How? Only way is to decrease power or decrease weight or both. Decreasing power makes them unsafe, and decreasing weight beyond where we are now is either unsafe (really small car) or incredibly expensive (carbon fiber body)
Third, we could make homes much more efficient without significant added expense.
Again How? Insulation costs money. Newer air and heat units aren't cheap either.
Nary a word. He has an id here, but never posts. I sure miss the old PO'd forums. I think uncle Bill posts here from time to time too.
Granted that soot is hard to control and that blowing soot off various surfaces improves combustion processes to control other pollutants and reduce overall cost. I'll bet they did it at midnight so they didn't have to field calls.
What set me off was the implication that the power company is somehow irresponsible. Because we have centralized power production we have less pollution overall than we did when everyone burned whatever and the power production we have keeps getting cleaner by little tiny steps. When you burn things to get energy you will have unwanted byproducts be they soot, fly ash, heat, or radioactive compounds. Question is which poses least overall risk compared to benefits.
POd is back, in a new incarnation. It just ain't the same, though.
You stay sane out there. I'll be in Cartersville week after next. I'll bet it's hot'rn hades, eh?
PS there is a very large coal fired plant in Cartersville - Plant Bowen. They may give tours. When I worked for the power company I got to wander around there pretty much unsupervised - neat place.
OK, what did you do differently from your neighbors?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.