Posted on 02/20/2019 8:38:04 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
With data and modelling from almost 8,000 coal power plants, researchers present the most comprehensive global picture to date of climate and human health impacts from coal power generation.
To estimate where action is most urgently required, the research group led by Stefanie Hellweg from ETH Zurich's Institute of Environmental Engineering modelled and calculated the undesired side effects of coal power for each of the 7,861 power plant units in the world.
"More than half of the health effects can be traced back to just one tenth of the power plants. These power plants should be upgraded or shut down as quickly as possible," says Christopher Oberschelp, the lead author of the study.
The global picture of coal power production shows that the gap between privileged and disadvantaged regions is widening.
Reducing the negative health effects of coal power generation should be a global priority: "But further industrialisation, especially in China and India, poses the risk of aggravating the situation instead," write the researchers led by Hellweg in their article.
The initial investment costs for the construction of a coal power plant are high, but the subsequent operating costs are low. Power plant operators thus have an economic interest in keeping their plants running for a long time. "The best option is therefore to not build any new coal power plants. From a health and environment perspective, we should move away from coal and towards natural gas -- and in the long term, towards renewable energy sources," says Oberschelp.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Excellent commentary.
It will be interesting to see this ‘study’.
And the models and methods used for their analysis and conclusions.
It will also be interesting to examine the reasons for the closures.
Perhaps you could name a few of these “larger and more efficient units”?
My apologies, it was meant to be a rhetorical question - given the reputation of US media.
It should have ended with a question mark. Quick-posting isn’t always accurate now that I’m not drunk-posting anymore....
Tangentially, I wonder why coal-fired plants are decommissioned instead of being converted to gas???Seems like conversion to gas would be trivial compared to building a whole new plant.
It also would seem that coal has the advantage of non-volatility - if it is economical to ship LNG to distant shores, it easily might be more economical to ship coal.
Old coal-fired technology will be replaced with a new system. DOE phase-two funding application in support of a North Dakota project to adapt coal-gasification to the operational NG fueled Allam Cycle turbine is expected March 31st.
SYNGAS-FIRED ALLAM CYCLE PROJECT UPDATE:
http://www.industrialcostanalysis.com/8.pdf
Indeed. Old coal power plants being shut down. And no one wants to take the political risk of building new coal power plants.
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.