A few weeks ago we had a steam pipe burst at our local geothermal plant and it took some time to get it fixed because nobody was on duty at the plant.
Nobody was on duty! The plant is operated from a control centre 30K away
The geothermal generators were supplying us with electricity and the fact that nobody was there illustrates the low running costs of geothermal compared to coal.
Nobody was on duty! The plant is operated from a control centre 30K away
The geothermal generators were supplying us with electricity and the fact that nobody was there illustrates the low running costs of geothermal compared to coal.
Power stations powered by coal are very powerful and a relatively large one running at its normal 50% of rated capacity would be burning about 5000 tons of coal a day. If you take the operating costs over twenty years with the coal mine, railway, engineers servicing boilers and general maintenance costs its an expensive beast to run.
The coal consumption of 5000 tons a day is producing 15,000 tons of CO2 and other pollutants a day and despite 30 years of talking about carbon capture it has not been achieved. The simple reason is that it is far too expensive to achieve and coal is only cheap as long as you vent the pollution to the atmosphere for free.
The coal consumption of 5000 tons a day is producing 15,000 tons of CO2 and other pollutants a day and despite 30 years of talking about carbon capture it has not been achieved. The simple reason is that it is far too expensive to achieve and coal is only cheap as long as you vent the pollution to the atmosphere for free.
Another cost of burning coal is the health of the miners.
Nobody goes into mining as a lifestyle choice as it is a dirty, dangerous, health destroying occupation and much of the heath costs are taken by the state and paid for out of taxes.
Nobody goes into mining as a lifestyle choice as it is a dirty, dangerous, health destroying occupation and much of the heath costs are taken by the state and paid for out of taxes.
Wind generation, hydro, geothermal and solar all have their energy supplied by nature so that over a few years, when the capital construction cost are covered the cost of the electricity tumbles.
If all the miners were re-employed erecting and installing wind generators and solar panels the miners would have a heathier and more fulfilling life and we would have cheaper electricity.
If all the miners were re-employed erecting and installing wind generators and solar panels the miners would have a heathier and more fulfilling life and we would have cheaper electricity.
CO2 in the atmosphere has climbed from a normal maximum of 280 parts per million to the current 400 ppm. A level we have not seen on this planet for 3.5 million years. In that period there was a completely different environment with temperatures 3C warmer, sea levels 12 metres higher and higher levels of ocean acidity in the oceans. A world in which today's plants and animals were not designed to live.
We need to stop burning coal urgently and build up out renewable electricity capacity and ultimately convert our transport to electricity.
We need to stop burning coal urgently and build up out renewable electricity capacity and ultimately convert our transport to electricity.
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