On 1/27/04 12:49 PM, "Dyna Sluyter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Much as we would like to see cleaner burning plants and fuels we're > going to be stuck with coal for a while- there simply is not enough > natural gas distribution capacity to replace coal. Wind of course is > unreliable, and "biomass" has potential but is still too expensive. > BTW, coal is sorta biomass... Um...wrong. The distribution is there. We could use some better planning by those involved in natural gas distribution as far as maintaining adequate stored reserves. The price spikes that have taken place came due to lack of planning (or collusion, if you're a conspiracy theorist). Also, if biomass is too expensive, how do you explain the very successful District Energy plant over in St. Paul that burns primarily wood waste and is much more pleasant to walk nearby than High Bridge or Riverside? Last time I visited the Science Museum next door to District Energy, there was a pleasant cedar aroma... As for wind being too unreliable, the only people who believe that are folks who don't understand how wind energy systems are set up or who have some coal to sell... For a primer on wind power, visit: http://www.windpower.org/en/faqs.htm > The conversion of 3 local plants including Riverside will probably > produce a shortage of natural gas locally which will cause gas bills to > rise. That will make natural gas power generation suddenly unpopular, > and bring a halt to the conversions and new natural gas plants. About > then a planned new coal plant along the upper Missouri will come online > with the latest pollution control equipment and Exel will just buy > power from them and make Riverside a peaking plant. Um...wrong again. First of all, two plants are being converted to natural gas - Riverside (Minneapolis) and High Bridge (St. Paul). The other plant in Stillwater will still burn coal, but is getting upgraded emissions controls. Second of all, the state Public Utilities Commission is smarter than you give them credit for. They examined this issue for months and held a full-day public hearing on it when MERP was still being evaluated. What was determined was that while these plants will obviously use a great deal of natural gas, it's actually not that much relative to what we're already using for heating and industrial purposes and so it will not significantly impact supply or prices. The only real cost increase people should expect is the rate increase that the PUC approved for Xcel to recoup their investment. By the way, Riverside and High Bridge will become intermediate load plants, but not because Xcel will buy electricity from Missouri. They will operate in conjunction with the wind farms at Buffalo Ridge, MN. That would not have been possible using coal because of the much longer start-up process coal requires. Natural gas can essentially be "switched on" as needed. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
