More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper

[MTAtech]

[h=1]More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper[/h]Updated 8:51 AM ET, Mon March 25, 2019

New York (CNN Business)The simple laws of economics threaten to doom America's remaining coal power plants.

Wind and solar costs have plunged so rapidly that 74% of the US coal fleet could be phased out for renewable energy -- and still save customers money, according to a report released on Monday by Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan think tank.
That figure of at-risk coal plants in the United States rises to 86% by 2025 as solar and wind costs continue to plunge.

This is a good thing. Clean renewable energy cheaper than dirty coal that gives miners cancer and pollutes the air. Can everyone agree this is a good thing?

 

[Visbek]

[h=1]More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper[/h]Updated 8:51 AM ET, Mon March 25, 2019

This is a good thing. Clean renewable energy cheaper than dirty coal that gives miners cancer and pollutes the air. Can everyone agree this is a good thing?

It's definitely a good thing. However, I am curious... When you ask if everyone agrees, are you being optimistic or sarcastic? :mrgreen:

 

[Obscurity]

This is what America looked like before the EPA cleaned it up | Popular Science

 

[Rogue Valley]

The Wheeler EPA won't be happy. But then again, Trumps 2019 WH budget guts EPA funding by 25%.

 

[Obscurity]

The Wheeler EPA won't be happy. But then again, Trumps 2019 WH budget guts EPA funding by 25%.

Coming to a homestead near you this year: poisoned water, smoggy air, and a denial about the poison sold to us as food and cosmetics and clothing.

Republicans with their pro business agenda are disgusting shills, deny they work hand over fist with grotesque companies like Koch industries to gut protections of our natural resources.

As a fisherman, I've seen first hand the impact their policies have.

This is why I am an independent. I tend to vote democrat, simply because of the two issues I feel most passionate about, but I refuse to vote republican because they don't give a **** about my concerns, and routinely deny my concerns as relative.

They disgust me, and must be ousted from power.

 

[MTAtech]

It's definitely a good thing. However, I am curious... When you ask if everyone agrees, are you being optimistic or sarcastic? :mrgreen:

I was hopeful -- hopeful that there are somethings that we ALL can agree on.

 

[ataraxia]

I was hopeful -- hopeful that there are somethings that we ALL can agree on.

Change is always difficult and scary. Even when it’s for the better. There’s always going to be a fair amount of resistance to it, especially in a relatively conservative society like the US.

 

[Moderate Right]

[h=1]More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper[/h]Updated 8:51 AM ET, Mon March 25, 2019

This is a good thing. Clean renewable energy cheaper than dirty coal that gives miners cancer and pollutes the air. Can everyone agree this is a good thing?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with phasing in cleaner energies and letting the market adjust to things. What is wrong is politicians and the government purposely putting businesses and workers out of work through excessive regulations.

 

[Helix]

[h=1]More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper[/h]Updated 8:51 AM ET, Mon March 25, 2019

This is a good thing. Clean renewable energy cheaper than dirty coal that gives miners cancer and pollutes the air. Can everyone agree this is a good thing?

i agree. however, the public sector probably needs to step in and do something for Appalachia / coal country. they need to be trained and hired to do something that they can make a living on as we transition off of coal.

 

[ataraxia]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with phasing in cleaner energies and letting the market adjust to things. What is wrong is politicians and the government purposely putting businesses and workers out of work through excessive regulations.

So if we open up Yosemite to strip mall developers, the free market will make everything just fine, right? :lamo

 

[ataraxia]

i agree. however, the public sector probably needs to step in and do something for Appalachia / coal country. they need to be trained and hired to do something that they can make a living on as we transition off of coal.

Detailed plans for that were laid out by Hillary back in 2015. Apparently the folks in coal country didn't like it one bit.

In a six-page plan, the Democratic candidate proposes expanding existing programs, such as federal investment in carbon capture technology for coal plants. She also calls for protecting coal workers’ pension and health benefits from bankruptcy, and encouraging economic development in coal country through grants and expanded broadband access...

“Hillary Clinton is committed to meeting the climate change challenge as President and making the United States a clean energy superpower,” the plan’s fact sheet says.

“At the same time, she will not allow coal communities to be left behind — or left out of our economic future.”

The GOP quickly dismissed the plan, saying Clinton’s environmental policies mean she is no friend to coal workers and their communities.

“Hillary Clinton is Public Enemy No. 1 for coal miners and their communities because she wholeheartedly supports President Obama’s EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] agenda that is crippling their way of life,” Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said in a statement.
Clinton releases $30B plan for coal country | TheHill

 

[Moderate Right]

So if we open up Yosemite to strip mall developers, the free market will make everything just fine, right? :lamo

What kind of nonsense is that? I never said there shouldn't be any regulations. I just said that we shouldn't purposely over regulate to kill businesses and jobs. I was talking apples and you start a conversation about Greek mythology. WTF?

 

[ataraxia]

What kind of nonsense is that? I never said there shouldn't be any regulations. I just said that we shouldn't purposely over regulate to kill businesses and jobs. I was talking apples and you start a conversation about Greek mythology. WTF?

You were telling us how lack of lack of government regulations is always the best way to take care of everything. I was just finding examples of how that works so well in every situation. Right?

 

[Helix]

Detailed plans for that were laid out by Hillary back in 2015. Apparently the folks in coal country didn't like it one bit.

Clinton releases $30B plan for coal country | TheHill

they're probably going to have to like a public sector initiative, as we aren't going back in the coal direction regardless of which party wins. the only difference is the speed with which we will transition from coal. i hate to see their region left in the spot that it's in, though, and i don't see the private sector coming in to help them.

 

[MTAtech]

i agree. however, the public sector probably needs to step in and do something for Appalachia / coal country. they need to be trained and hired to do something that they can make a living on as we transition off of coal.

I agree. However, coal-mining jobs have been disappearing for a long time. Even in West Virginia, the most coal-oriented state, it has been a quarter century since they accounted for as much as 5% of total employment. What, then, do West Virginians actually do for a living these days? Well, many of them work in health care: Almost one in six workers is employed in the category health care and social assistance -- and the money for those health care jobs come from Washington. How is that? West Virginia has a relatively old population, with 22% of its residents are on Medicare. VW is also a state that has benefited hugely from Obamacare, with the percentage of the population lacking health insurance falling from 14% in 2013 to 6% in 2015; these gains came mainly from a big expansion of Medicaid.

So, the main way to help those in Appalachia is expansion of federal programs, instead of the trend to contract them. With money from programs pouring in the private sector would be stimulated and other jobs will be created.

 

[MTAtech]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with phasing in cleaner energies and letting the market adjust to things. What is wrong is politicians and the government purposely putting businesses and workers out of work through excessive regulations.

I fundamentally agree. However, as I said in a previous post, coal jobs have been declining since the 1950s and that decline was due to mechanization not regulations. There is no evidence that regulations hampered coal employment nor Trump relaxing those regulations (which mainly kept local waters free of mercury) improved employment.

 

[dcsports]

[h=1]More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper[/h]Updated 8:51 AM ET, Mon March 25, 2019

This is a good thing. Clean renewable energy cheaper than dirty coal that gives miners cancer and pollutes the air. Can everyone agree this is a good thing?

Of course, the ability to produce energy cleaner and cheaper and through renewable sources is a good thing.

Worth pointing out that 'non-partisan' (your term - I didn't see where they used it) doesn't mean unbiased. This is a group that advocates policy to promote clean energy and move away from energy sources that 'produce greenhouse gasses'. So, yes, it is expected that they will find that wind and solar energy can be produced more efficiently than other forms. That's not to completely discount their claims, but they should be viewed with just as much skepticism as a coal company that tells you coal can be burned cleanly.

 

[Deuce]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with phasing in cleaner energies and letting the market adjust to things. What is wrong is politicians and the government purposely putting businesses and workers out of work through excessive regulations.

No, what is wrong is allowing the most destructive source of energy in human history to continue operating when alternatives exist.

 

[Deuce]

What kind of nonsense is that? I never said there shouldn't be any regulations. I just said that we shouldn't purposely over regulate to kill businesses and jobs. I was talking apples and you start a conversation about Greek mythology. WTF?

We should regulate coal out of existence the same way we regulated radioactive water out of the grocery store.

 

[Moderate Right]

No, what is wrong is allowing the most destructive source of energy in human history to continue operating when alternatives exist.

Ever hear of the yellow vest riots in Paris? It's easy to talk the talk but when it comes down to a huge increase in expenses to the everyday citizen, out come the protesters, even in liberal France. Phasing in and out is the answer, not what the socialists want.

 

[Moderate Right]

We should regulate coal out of existence the same way we regulated radioactive water out of the grocery store.

Purposely putting businesses and people out of jobs is what heartless bastards do.

 

[Deuce]

Ever hear of the yellow vest riots in Paris? It's easy to talk the talk but when it comes down to a huge increase in expenses to the everyday citizen, out come the protesters, even in liberal France. Phasing in and out is the answer, not what the socialists want.

You have a myopic view of what the yellow vest riots are about.

Phasing out is what I want. Invent more **** that liberals believe, it's fun to watch every single day.

 

[Deuce]

Purposely putting businesses and people out of jobs is what heartless bastards do.

Whalers got put out of business. Cry more.

 

[OldFatGuy]

Whalers got put out of business. Cry more.

The Japanese have announced they are returning to commercial whaling (as if their research whaling projects weren't a sham) even tho the modern Japanese populace has express disinterest for consuming whale flesh. Well, blubber away.

 

[MTAtech]

Purposely putting businesses and people out of jobs is what heartless bastards do.

Are we heartless bastards to put heroin dealers, whose product hurts people, out of business?