Save the planet with coal

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blackeagle603
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Save the planet with coal

Post by blackeagle603 »

Immediately thought of "Sleeper" Did you know people used to think smoking was bad for you?

Same with coal, they used to think it was killing the planet. Well I poof methane in your general direction.
"Look, Babe, the problem is that if you keep coal in the ground, you have to double natural gas production and consumption to power the grid. According to the University of Texas at Austin, the greatest university on Earth, one which only admits the best looking and most intelligent people you will ever meet, natural gas is composed primarily of methane: http://beg.utexas.edu/energyecon/lng/LN ... ion_07.php

Natural gas is 82% methane. According to the EPA, "Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH4 on climate change is 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period."
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toad
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by toad »

I've been reading too many books like "The Last Centurion" and re-reading "Dies the Fire." One thing is the executive agencies have been cutting into power generation capability, water supply, and highway infrastructure. If we get with a "Maunder Minimum" scenario, I wonder how close to winter black outs we'll get as opposed to "brown outs". Even a few nuclear air burst might tip us into a die off situation.
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randy
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by randy »

toad wrote: If we get with a "Maunder Minimum" scenario, I wonder how close to winter black outs we'll get as opposed to "brown outs".
I'm not following how a Maunder Minimum would affect the power grid? That means less solar activity and less likely for a CME/EMP scenario taking down the grid.

Or are you thinking of a Little Ice Age and the impact of increased heating demand?
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Greg
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by Greg »

randy wrote:
toad wrote: If we get with a "Maunder Minimum" scenario, I wonder how close to winter black outs we'll get as opposed to "brown outs".
I'm not following how a Maunder Minimum would affect the power grid? That means less solar activity and less likely for a CME/EMP scenario taking down the grid.

Or are you thinking of a Little Ice Age and the impact of increased heating demand?
Likely. The 'winter blackouts' suggests it. It's a good question, we've been living on inherited infrastructure that we're not really keeping up for a while now.
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HTRN
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Re: Save the planet with coal

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toad wrote:Even a few nuclear air burst might tip us into a die off situation.
There will never be a "few" nuclear air bursts over the US.

If even a tactical nuclear warhead(20-100 Kton) went off in US, or on US forces, there would be a full scale nuclear exchange. That's been policy since 1945, and has never changed.

Also, While a high altitude burst would bring down the electrical grid, there's exactly 3 powers on Earth that can do that, because it requires a ICBM - Us, the Russians and the Chinese. Guess who we got ours pointed at?
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Jericho941
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by Jericho941 »

So whatever puts methane in the atmosphere is 25 times worse than coal.

That's not twisted logic, by the way.
It's not twisted logic, but it is leaving out the important part: Natural gas plants burn methane. When you burn it, you get carbon dioxide and water.
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HTRN
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by HTRN »

Greg wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2015 3:31 am The 'winter blackouts' suggests it.
Winter blackouts, during a Noreaster or snowstorm are my big fear - its the most likely life threatening situation here.
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by SoupOrMan »

I want coal mined, because it's in my family to do so.

I want it mined slowly so it lasts the US for a while longer. Turn what can be turned into fuel oil and cracked into gasoline, gasify the rest. Southern Illinois could still provide fuel to significant parts of the Midwest if we could get a few other parts of the state out of the way. Therein lies the problem.
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toad
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Re: Save the planet with coal

Post by toad »

In ye ancient days before the Internet, Oklahoma figured out they had more coal than oil. The problem was coal burning put a lot of stuff into the air. The first solution was to use " bags " in the smoke stacks to filter the smoke. A problem arouse when the power plant guys rinsed the bags out in a local stream. After that they found that they could use the fly ash to make cinder blocks for the construction industry.
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