Trump orders Energy Department to help ailing coal, nuclear plants

Reuters ^ | June 1, 2018 | Reuters

[Innovative]

.S. President Donald Trump on Friday directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take emergency steps to keep at-risk coal and nuclear plants running, the White House announced.

Under the directive, Perry would require grid operators to buy electricity from ailing nuclear and coal-fired power plants to keep them from being shuttered.

“Unfortunately, impending retirements of fuel-secure power facilities are leading to a rapid depletion of a critical part of our nation’s energy mix, and impacting the resilience of our power grid,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

[Innovative]

Excellent.

Develop our domestic energy resources.

[DoughtyOne]

The Left will call for a day of mourning.

[Eddie01]

Nuclear is the future.

[Red Badger]

Have coal made into fuels for our military, and strategic reserves. It doesn’t spoil...................

[VRWCarea51]

Tom Steyer is on the line to his shrink right now and will need his meds upped...

[InterceptPoint]

I was thinking more along the lines of “central planning”.

Trump needs to be careful with this sort of thing. Maybe OK in this case but I would not like to see him rescuing businesses that really should be allowed to fail.

[A_Former_Democrat]

He’s already close to OD as nutz as he is

[ConservativeMind]

ROTFL!

Environmentalists will now have to subsidize coal.

I love it!

[Doctor DNA]

Bar-B-Que Nation.

[crz]

There is energy all around us. The problem is that the freaks who ran this country these past years wouldnt allow them to be developed without getting their greasy filthy paws into it.

That includes new coal and bio mass.

One way to save power on the electrical grid is to ration it to places like LA.

See how they like it for a change.

[George from New England]

The ole Reagan moto was: run the other way when the govt offers to help.

Trump I pray can actually help.

[ConservativeMind]

We should require all states to be able to cover their own average energy use.

[DoodleDawg]

Excellent.

Develop our domestic energy resources.

Idiocy. Our domestic energy resources are already well developed. Electric utilities own almost 3200 electrical generating plants in this country. Coal and nuclear make up 260 of those. Around 2100 are fueled by natural gas, hydro-electric, renewable energy, or other domestic energy sources. The administration is propping up failing power plants rather than letting the market take its course and letting them sink or swim.

source

[DoodleDawg]

Have coal made into fuels for our military, and strategic reserves. It doesn’t spoil...................

Neither does fuel made from petroleum or natural gas. Far more cost effective sources.

[Innovative]

The Obama administration was shutting down coal plants.

[DoodleDawg]

The Obama administration was shutting down coal plants.

Even more converted from coal to natural gas, which is more plentiful and less expensive. Forcing consumers to buy from coal is forcing them to subsidize a failing industry.

[ncfool]

Great stuff in that it sticks a stick again into Obumbler’s eye. His DOE was working to destroy America’s energy independence.

[miss marmelstein]

I love this guy.

No wonder he has so many enemies.

[taildragger]

The economy is smoking. We didn't have enough reserve in the number of plants not to mention how weak the grid is. Combined Cycle burning natural gas is a quick fix. However I think their is something else going on. Maybe Team Trump is catching on, i.e. Electric Car Revolution coming. I have been following Ionic, But I did not know Dyson pretty much dropped their battery research to throw money at this Solid State Battery.

Dyson has said he pretty much will spend his net worth on his E-car project. So when he drops the magic battery he bought from a U-of MI wonk and throws his weight behind Ionic. That gets my attention.

We may need a great deal more of power in PDJT's 2 terms...

From Green Car Reports Below:

Battery tech may be getting a big solid-state boost soon

Aaron Cole

56 Comments May 31, 2018

Tesla Motors - Model S lithium-ion battery packEnlarge Photo

A Woburn, Massachusetts, company may be attracting big name attention for its solid-state technology that it says can withstand higher temperatures and offer higher capacity. For battery makers, producing a stable solid to withstand the rigors of charging and discharging has proved elusive.

Ionic Materials said in February that it had secured $65 million in funding from investors during its most recent round of fundraising. Axios reported in February that investors included electronics giant Samsung and consumer electronics maker Dyson.

Sun Microsystems and Java co-founder Bill Joy sits on Ionic's board of directors and told Wired last year that Ionic's solid polymer battery formula was his "black swan."

"...I don’t have a word for this new breakthrough, a solid that conducts ions at room temperature. Maybe it should be called an ional. This is a scientific breakthrough that should receive awards," Joy told Wired.

CHECK OUT: Better alkaline batteries, made rechargeable, to power electric cars?

Ionic Materials didn't immediately comment on the report, but in announcing the successful cash raise in February the company said it had attracted money from "companies from the battery manufacturing, consumer electronic and electric vehicle ecosystem who will be working...to speed the development of its solid polymer electrolyte battery material."

The company's proposed solid polymer electrolyte material could prove to be a boon for electric cars in making lithium-ion batteries store and discharge energy more safely at various temperatures.

Dyson knows the struggle to develop solid-state batteries well. Last year, the vacuum-maker and investor walked away from three patents for solid-state batteries that a Michigan-based startup developed. Dyson reportedly invested $90 million in the technology.

[aumrl]

It is desirable to have an energy mix.The old ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ philosophy. Coal plants, and especially nuclear plants traditionally produce a greater amount of watts.
It is not so much the number of plants but the percentage of the nation’s power each source provides.
Building new plants from planning to going ‘on line’ take a considerable length of time.
Better not to be caught short in the event electric is needed.