Re: Fluorescent Bulbs Are Known to Zap Domestic Tranquillity; Energy-Savers a Turnoff for Wives

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Lewis Gardner <lgardner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Robert Green wrote:
>
>> Today, as a result of these technological advancements, the concept of a
>> pollution-free, highly efficient coal-fueled power plant is no longer
>> confined to an engineer's drawing board. The basic equipment for this new
>> breed of coal plant is being developed and tested, much of it at large
>> scales.
>
>Coal is a DIRTY energy source. It's extraction, transportation and
>preparation cause extreme environmental damage. These factors tend to be
>left out of the discussion.
>
>There is no clean way to extract energy from coal or to deal with the
>vast amount of waste it creates.
>
>"Clean coal" is at best a relative term, at worst it is just more of the
>same BS we are flooded with by the corporate tools that run our government.

"These factors tend to be left out of the discussion." because a market
based economy has no way to incorporate these externalities into the market
price. Great fortunes have been made in the extractive industries because,
in part, the demand for their product is higher than it would be if the
extractors had to pay the full social costs of extraction.

However, as long as coal is plentiful (and cheap) it _will_ be used and
anyone who thinks otherwise is hopelessly naive. If it becomes economical to
capture the CO2, convert it to CO and use it as a chemical feedstock to make
plastics, gasoline, etc., West Virginia and eastern Kentucky will soon be
flatlands just like the western forests disappeared to clear cutting. The
best one can hope for is to ameliorate the effects and maybe reducing the
CO2 emissions will save the new flatlands from inundation or, at least,
delay the flood.

John Prine wrote "Paradise" about 35 years ago (at about the time CFLs were
introduced*) and environmental damage in W. VA and eastern KY predate
mountain top removal. Little has changed (other than the Peabody coal train
moving on to other flatland coal fields in Ohio, Illinois, Wyoming, etc. and
our use of coal accelerating - more than half our electricity is coal-based
and that percentage is increasing) despite all the wailing and gnashing of
teeth by "environmentalists".

Anyway, I think you will find that it was a federal judge with a lifetime
appointment and no need for campaign funds who ruled the EPA and Corps of
Engineers have no authority to block mountain top removal.

So far, higher gasoline prices have made no dent in the number of miles
driven by Americans. It remains to be seen whether the higher food prices
caused by the idiotic subsidies for corn-derived ethanol will wake anyone.

*mentioning CFLs keeps this HA related - ;)