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Environment & Energy

rightsideout

(978 posts)

1. It probably has to do more with natural gas

Reply to ebt12 (Original post)

Wed Nov 28, 2012, 11:55 PM

Nov 2012

Natural gas has become more cost competitive with coal. I know of one power plant shutting down and being rebuilt as a natural gas power plant. I imagine executives running aging coal powered plants may have considered that it's not cost effective to retrofit older coal plants with sequesturing (sp?) technology or scrubbers.

But a future problem with natural gas is that the EPA may crack down on fracking which may drive the cost of natural gas back up so coal could look competitive again.

But yea, owners of alot of aging coal plants are going to find that retrofitting the plants may be as expensive as rebuilding with natural gas. They see the fuel savings down the road.

Here's something on it.

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/05/coal-falls-while-clean-tech-rises-in-survey-of-electric-utility-industry/

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Question About Air Pollution Control Laws [View all] ebt12 Nov 2012 OP

It probably has to do more with natural gas rightsideout Nov 2012 #1

Another problem is the Natural Gas people are counting on, may NOT exist. happyslug Nov 2012 #2