Xcel takes unusual step to shut down coal power plants

[phantom power]

Of course, they're planning to replace them with NG, which case they might as well stick with the coal. At least it won't peak as fast as NG.

State regulators have approved a plan by Xcel Energy Inc. to shut down two coal-fired power plants in Colorado, citing benefits to public health and concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions.

It’s the first time in the nation a utility has volunteered, and regulators have approved, a plan to shut down power plants because of CO2 emissions, which are linked to global warming.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission spent Monday and Tuesday discussing a plan from Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) to meet its customers’ power demands for the next several years. A written order offering specific details of the decision is expected in a few weeks.

The closures are two to four years away, and Xcel has proposed using natural gas to make up for the lost power supplies.

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/08/18/daily23.html

[jtrockville]

1. Aside from peaking... isn't natural gas a LOT cleaner than coal?

[Taverner]

2. Yes, NG is very much cleaner

And the data for it peaking is much less reliable than the oil peak data. Sure, it will peak sometime, but there is a lot more of this than there is petrol.

[4dsc]

3. production peaked in 1998 in the US

But they are under the belief that non-conventional sources of NG, aka shale beds and coalbed methane, will be enough to satisfy our needs going into the future.. Time will tell if they are right..

[Taverner]

5. Well there is one spot where it will actually help to 'mine' it

Russian Permafrost. It's melting and releasing tons of it - so much that if it all gets loose it could SERIOUSLY speed up warming.

We tap it, however (technology willing) we can kill two birds with one stone.

[NickB79]

7. There isn't any useable way to tap the permafrost, though

The methane is being released from decomposing vegetation spread out through the soil, not from trapped pockets of concentrated gases.

The only theoretical way to capture and use permafrost methane is to throw massive tarps, many miles wide, across the tundra and seal it to the ground.

[Taverner]

8. I know where the Methane is coming from

The tarps idea is one consideration - there is also the idea of playing with the temperature a little to make the methane go where you want it.

[phantom power]

4. It's not cleaner in the ways that I think really matter.

It's still just burning fossil carbon into CO2. Which is going to kill us all.

I personally find the claims that we have gobs of NG left in the ground unconvincing. It will peak not long after oil.

Migrating to NG for electricity is a misallocation of resources.

[kristopher]

6. Much cleaner regarding extraction & particulate pollution

Technology * Capacity/configuration/fuel * Estimate (gCO2e/kWh)

Wind 2.5 MW, offshore 9
Hydroelectric 3.1 MW, reservoir 10
Wind 1.5 MW, onshore 10
Biogas Anaerobic digestion 11
Hydroelectric 300 kW, run-of-river 13
Solar thermal 80 MW, parabolic trough 13
Biomass Forest wood Co-combustion with hard coal 14
Biomass Forest wood steam turbine 22
Biomass Short rotation forestry Co-combustion with hard coal 23
Biomass FOREST WOOD reciprocating engine 27
Biomass Waste wood steam turbine 31
Solar PV Polycrystalline silicone 32
Biomass Short rotation forestry steam turbine 35
Geothermal 80 MW, hot dry rock 38
Biomass Short rotation forestry reciprocating engine 41
Nuclear Various reactor types 66
Natural gas Various combined cycle turbines 443
Fuel cell Hydrogen from gas reforming 664
Diesel Various generator and turbine types 778
Heavy oil Various generator and turbine types 778
Coal Various generator types with scrubbing 960
Coal Various generator types without scrubbing 1050

B.K. Sovacool / Energy Policy 36 (2008) page 2950


And cleaner than coal or petroleum based fuel cells in CO2e emissions.

Natural gas plants also leave room for two dramatic improvements that lower CO2 emissions; they can be augmented with compressed air storage and made to burn 60-70% less gas, and they can burn biosourced methane - effectively reducing their carbon footprint to near zero.

[LiberalEsto]

9. Unlike coal, NG doesn't release toxic metals

Burning coal releases arsenic, cadmium and other heavy metals into the environment.

I see natural gas as an interim measure to help us phase into renewables.