DYNA - Coal is NOT "sorta biomass" any more than nuclear is renewable! The fact that something is carbon based does not make it biomass as the term is commonly used.
No one is arguing that in the near term we can just replace coal with natural gas or other sources. We must however, begin to reduce - substantially - the amount of coal that we burn. Some of that can come by incorporating conservation technologies and common sense use strategies right now, but we are also at that point in time when we can efficiently and economically convert more of our generation to renewable sources which include biomass and wind. FYI, the wind technologies used to today are nothing like our grandparents windmills! This is high tech generation and it is highly reliable. People who argue that coal and nuclear generation facilities are reliable ignore the periodic shutdowns of these kinds of facilities for routine maintenance, and sometimes unplanned events. Jim Bernstein Fulton ---Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dyna Sluyter Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:50 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] Coal (We don't need it!) 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... 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. About the only civic benefit?) for Minneapolitans coming out of this deal is that maybe the Park Board will get to buy Exel Energy's coal storage yard for a few million. hanging on in Hawthorne, Dyna Sluyter On Tuesday, January 27, 2004, at 12:17 PM, ken bradley wrote: > Hello Minneapolis Folks, > > Sean Ryan wrote: > During the 10pm news on WCCO I saw a disturbing ad. > The add showed a family doing family things and > smiling while turning up their thermostat. This was > followed by a shot of the Minneapolis skyline. The > ad was for coal energy 'the affordable energy'. There > was no 'paid for by' tag line but I am guessing it is > someone's response to Excel's conversion of the > Riverside plant. Anyone seen this??? > > > Ken Bradley writes: WCCO is very happy to take > advertising revenue from the coal industry, but its > parent company CBS refused to run Moveon.org > advertisement criticizing President Bush. So much for > the liberial media. > > Europe is moving very quickly away from coal and > producing significantly more of its electricity from > wind and biomass, yet those technologies have been > positioned by US coal, and nuclear interests as > variable and reliable. > > Minnesota has better wind potential then Denmark, yet > a similar size population. Denmark produce > approximately 18% of its energy from wind, and another > significant portion from biomass, solar, with a goal > of producing 50% of its energy from renewable. > > Minnesota policy makers need to create energy policies > that support moving towards renewable energy. Denmark > leads the world in wind turbine manufacturing, which > steel is a major resource need (Minnesota has plenty > of iron and jobs that are needed), to produce turbine. > They have also reduced their usage through an > aggressive conservation program. > > The short answer: We need to move away from coal and > petroleum if we are going to save the planet for our > children and grandchildren. Taking advertising revenue > from the coal industry is no different then taking it > from the tobacco industry. > > I don't care for second hand smoke or second hand coal > and it is even worse to expose my children to it. > > > Ken Bradley Corcoran Neighborhood 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 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
