| Hawaii Bans New Coal Plants, Plans to be 70% Renewable by 2030 |
 |
 |
 |
| Fossil Fuels - Coal |
| Thursday, 23 October 2008 06:12 |
|
Another portion of the pledge is to be 70% powered by renewable energy in 2030. These are big goals, and not simple to achieve. Hawaii has a bit of an advantage over the rest of the U.S. though. First, a small population where power is already far more expensive (due to shipping costs) than elsewhere in America. They also (obviously) have tremendous geothermal potential, not to mention plenty of windy and sunny days per year. However, they also face some unique challenges. Because the state is geographically divided from itself, it"s difficult to generate power for each individual island. That"s why part of this plan is to create an undersea cable connecting Maui (where lots of renewable power is already generated) to Molokai and Lanai. The plan includes feed-in tariffs for renewable electricity, tax breaks for biofuels, and a plan to run Hawaii"s many oil-fired power plants on "sustainably harvested" biofuels. This bit is the sketchy. If I know one thing about Hawaii, it"s that it is a biological gem, and we certainly shouldn"t be harming that...even if it means increased carbon emissions. Details on the plan will continue to emerge, and we"re hoping that other states will be following in Hawaii"s footsteps soon. Via TreeHugger |
Let"s hear it for Hawaii. The island nation is walking into the future a touch faster than the rest of the United States by pledging to never again build a coal-fired power plant. And since coal plants have a lifespan of between 30 and 50 years, Hawaii will someday be 100% coal free.Recycling Waste Heat Via CogenerationSolve Climate has an interesting post on cogeneration in the US and the - Co-Generation: Clean as Wind, Reliable as Coal. The title isn"t strictly true - while it can improve the efficiency of many forms of power generation, CHP... Read more Coal | | Saturday, 13 September 2008 |
Coal-fired stations too risky, says AGLSydney Morning HeraldThursday 21/8/2008 Page: 4ONE OF the country"s largest electricity suppliers has said buying the state"s coal-fired stations ranks as a low priority because of the financial risks of carbon emissions trading. The managing director of AGL Energy, Michael... Read more Coal | | TUSEDAY, 9 September 2008 |
Reliance on coal could scuttle usAgeFriday 18/7/2008 Page: 13It would be shortsighted of Australia to rely on coal and not other energy sources.THE Rudd Government"s green paper on a "carbon pollution reduction scheme", and the methods to achieve this reduction, have some strongly innovative elements.... Read more Coal | | Augustonday, 11 August 2008 |
Clean Loy Yang costs huge Herald SunWednesday 27/8/2008 Page: 62THE boss of one of Victoria"s biggest power plants says it will be "very, very tough" for the state"s brown coal-fired electricity generators to cut carbon output by 20 per cent by 2020 to meet Rudd... Read more Coal | | Thursday, 11 September 2008 |
ETS to make coal plant "white elephant"AustralianTuesday 26/8/2008 Page: 4THE proposed federal emissions trading scheme would turn a $750 million Chinese-backed Victorian power station into a taxpayer-funded white elephant, according to legal advice. Lawyers acting for a coalition of environment groups have told the state and... Read more Coal | | Wednesday, 10 September 2008 |
The Clean Coal ConundrumTim Flannery has an interesting, but demoralising, look at the prospects for clean coal, now arguing that we"ll need it (retrofitted to existing plants) regardless because of the huge size of the installed base - The coal conundrum. His closing... Read more Coal | | Sunday, 21 September 2008 |
Coal To Plastic In ChinaMy recent post on bioplastics had one commenter at TOD noting that China is looking at producing plastic from coal (and that Pakistan claims to have the world"s 4th largest coal reserves).Given China"s interest in coal to liquids I thought... Read more Coal | | Septemberonday, 1 September 2008 |
New Zealand Company Locks Away CO2 in Charcoal Carbonscape, a company based in Marlborough, New Zealand, has found a new use for microwaves – sequestering carbon dioxide. They have recently developed a way to nuke things like wood chips (and other useless biological wastes) into charcoal. By... Read more Coal | | Friday, 3 October 2008 |
|
More in: Coal |
|
100% - + 8Show options | |
