Green Options » coal plants

Fossil Fuel CO2 Emissions Trends — 1990, 2000, 2008

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:21:18 +0000

Overall, global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels increased 29% between 2000 and 2008 and 41% from 1990-2008, and the current concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now at its highest in at least 2 million years, according to a new study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The new report published this week by an international team of researchers who are part of the “Global Carbon Project” shows emissions trends through 2008 (including changes in emissions causes and in the amount of emissions remaining in the atmosphere) and brings up some major questions for the future as well.

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Great Lakes Wind Hopes to Blow from 0 to 20 by 2030

Jeff Kart — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:39:54 +0000

Right now, there’s no wind in the Great Lakes, but lots of talk.

There’s a bit of money, too, totaling about $100,000 from the federal stimulus package, aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Great Lakes Commission has been granted $99,740 to develop a set of “Best Practices to Accelerate Wind Power in the Great Lakes and Beyond.”

The end result will be a guide to what works and what doesn’t when it comes to protecting the environment, being sensitive to community concerns and … building wind turbines in the water.

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Canada’s Clean Coal Concept

Lisa Wojnovich — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:57:42 +0000

Wednesday, Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced his government’s most recent plan for eliminating CO₂ emissions. The Canadian government hopes to phase out electrical generation by modern coal technology in favor of carbon capture and storage (CCS) — the much debated and as yet unproven “clean coal” concept — nuclear power, and other, renewable sources of energy.

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No New Coal: Help List All Proposed Coal Mines in the US

Alex Felsinger — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:29:24 +0000

With the recent successes in stopping the further expansion of coal-based energy, activists direly need a complete list of proposed mining projects.

While SourceWatch.org already hosts the CoalSwarm database with all sorts of information about coal plants across different states, it’s lacking information on proposed coal mines. Legal opposition and community protests have been shown to work, so if you live in a coal mining area please add any known projects to this wiki list.

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Largest Climate Action in US History Planned- Could Al Gore Come on Board?

Michael A. Weber — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:30:22 +0000

On March 2^nd, 2009, o ver 1,000 activists are poised to take part in a mass sit-in in Washington DC at one of the nation’s most prominent coal plants. The action will coincide with PowerShift 2009, a demonstration and conference being put on by Energy Action Coalition, which is expected to draw over 10,000 people in an effort to make climate action a priority of the incoming administration.

The act of civil disobedience will take part at The Capital Coal Plant, which provides power to the Dictrict’s Capitol Complex and to Congress. The House of Representatives has resolved to get their power from cleaner sources, but the Senate continues to obtain their power from the coal plant.

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Wall Street Cools on Coal — Along with the American Public

Carol Gulyas — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:33:58 +0000

I had read in Grist on April 15 that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had cancelled six proposed coal plants, but now it seems that opposition to building new coal plants is spreading, among Wall Street investors and the American public. Back in August 2007, 1600 Utahans signed a petition asking Buffett to cut Rocky Mountain Power’s dependence on coal, with the added message that Utahans want their utilities to investigate cleaner energy sources.

The most recent issue of Solar Today includes an article by Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute about the public outcry all across American which, in addition to the cost of the plants, has led to the cancellation of hundreds of coal plant construction projects. And a survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, published yesterday, shows that “79% of respondents would prefer to try and meet demand through greater energy-efficiency and conservation before building more coal-fired plants. Only 19% say they disagree.” With that kind of public opposition, it’s not surprising that Wall Street is cooling on coal plants, too.

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