Locking in global warming 9

What do you call it when a society knowingly cripples itself? I'm not sure. But historians studying our strange slow-motion self-immolation will find much to ponder in articles like this:

Top executives at many utility companies have reluctantly accepted that coal-fired power plants contribute to global warming, and they have begun planning for a more restrictive future.

Then there is C. John Wilder, chief executive of TXU Corp. The Dallas-based utility company is racing to build 11 big power plants in Texas that will burn pulverized coal. That process releases substantial amounts of carbon dioxide, the most worrisome of several heat-trapping gases widely blamed for global warming.

TXU contends Texas needs a lot more power, and it wants to be the company to provide it. Critics of its $11 billion construction program see another motivation: The federal government may slap limits on carbon-dioxide emissions. If it does, plants completed sooner may have a distinct advantage. That's because the government may dole out "allowances" to release carbon dioxide, and plants up and running when regulations go into effect may qualify for more of them than those built at a later date.

Obscene enough. But then, get this:

TXU's Mr. Wilder declined to be interviewed. When he unveiled his plant-building plan in May, he dubbed it a "clean coal initiative." He said it was voluntary and would reduce by 20% TXU's emission of regulated pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury, due to the installation of more pollution-control equipment on older plants.

Environmentalists say "clean coal" is a misleading label. The reductions, they say, aren't as voluntary as the company claims. TXU is required to reduce its emissions of certain pollutants by 2015, and its plan moves up the timetable to 2010. "I think we should be applauded for it," says Mike McCall, chief executive of TXU Wholesale, the unit that runs TXU's generation business.

One hardly knows what to say.

(via Env. Econ.)

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. axolotl Posted 10:45 am
    01 Aug 2006

    Wasted wind powerThis is even more distressing considering Texas has the second most wind capacity of any state!

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  2. JMG's avatar

    JMG Posted 11:58 am
    01 Aug 2006

    See Barbara Tuchman's book"The March of Folly"--- an outstanding book that every environmentally conscious person should read, although it never discusses the environment per se.  What it does discuss, by examining five specific cases in detail, is folly . . . clearly destructive behavior that was evidently so at the time, and was continued anyway.  So I would say "folly" is the word you're looking for.

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  3. cbrtxus Posted 3:34 pm
    01 Aug 2006

    Wasted Wind PowerI live in Texas.  There is indeed a lot of wind power potential. However, when you run the numbers, it would take tens of thousands of wind mills and perhaps hundreds of thousands to produce the power that Texas needs and will need in the future. And you still have to have conventional backup for when the wind doesn't cooperate which is costly.  The wind mills themselves have an environmental impact that cannot be ignored.  Also, the best areas for wind power are not generally where we need the most electricity.  That means running transmission lines over vast distances. I just don't see how wind power would be a viable answer for us in Texas.  

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  4. ffletcher Posted 6:32 pm
    01 Aug 2006

    There are problems with windNeed I remind you that that many find there are a lot of issues with wind.  They want a perfect supply of power and appear to be willing  stop wind in order for coal to go forward.  I think they are short sighted, but I do not care what happens in Texas.  I do not think they will get there projects approved in a timely manner.  In the end suspect that the protestors will be able to stop wind Texas easier than the coal and if not coal then nuclear.  We will find it easy to kill wind.

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  5. ffletcher Posted 6:52 pm
    01 Aug 2006

    Have Been Up All Night Working On UnitWe have been up all night working on getting our natural gas unit off line.  That unit is the Magnolia Power Project.  There have been problems with the turning gear.  When a power plant is shut down it is hot, it is important to keep it turning so it does not sag and catch upon itself.  We have had some problems with that, but my operations manager informs me that we have been able to shut it down and are proceeding on shut down without lockup.  We are taking the unit off line so we can clean it.  It is near the I-5 freeway and the soot from the trucks does create problems.  We will have to water wash.  The heat wave has seem to have passed.  But I suspect the next one will will not be far behind.   We expect to have everything working right and be back on line by Saturday.

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  6. ffletcher Posted 6:57 pm
    01 Aug 2006

    In The End I Expect Texas Will Not Buid WindI suspect that Texas will build the 11 coal fired plant they intent to build or if not that then nuclear.  I do not see Texas building wind, I think they will be successful in stopping that source in favor of the other two.  From what I have seen of Texas if it is renewable then who needs it.

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  7. EcoSpeak Posted 9:56 pm
    01 Aug 2006

    Why not just reduce demand?Simplistic, perhaps.  But after suffering a week in New York City without power, after the grid in my neighborhood literally exploded due to excess useage, I'm convinced that the solution isn't increased supply, but reduced demand.
    Why isn't there any attempt at innovation electronic equipment to make it all more efficient?  Why aren't consumers bitching to electronics manufacturers about their electricity bills and, perhaps, guilty consciences?  
    Why aren't there wide-spread government-sponsored education programs to help people understand the scope of the problem and help them learn ways to reduce their consumption?
    Nuclear reactors and fields of windmills are only band-aid fixes.  The problem needs to be addressed at its inception -- demand needs to be reduced.
    It was actually nice to be off the grid entirely for a week, even though the conditions were bad enough for Red Cross trucks to be positioned throughout the neighborhood feeding people and handing out water.  At least for one week of my life I wasn't contributing to this atmospheric demise!

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  8. amazingdrx Posted 11:17 pm
    01 Aug 2006

    Relaxhttp://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:r6WldXvFZpcJ:www.amsu...
    Northern Wisconsin power company Wisconsin Public Service is on the case.  this superconducting magnetic energy storage system is this century's solution.  
    It is already saving fuel by balancing load/supply inconsistencies, and by adding more of this storage solar and wind can eventually replace combustion.
    Forget Texas.  Any progress from corporatist ruled regions is an illusion.  Not only can these throwbacks to feudalism not lead, they won't even follow.
    Hire a consultant from Wisconsin for your problems ff, the cost is no object approach may at least get you all some online help, hehey.
    Neeehaaaw, good luck with that.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

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  9. cbrtxus Posted 12:36 am
    02 Aug 2006

    Wind Power in TexasIf wind power or solar ever makes economic sense in Texas, you can bet that this "corporatist ruled region" will do it.  Texas is not a "progressive" state in political sense.  We are more of a free market state.  As an illustration of how unprogressive we are, we have thus far avoided the rolling blackouts or brownouts of some of the more progressive regions.
    There are some wind farms West of San Antonio that were built mostly because of the tax subsidies. As you drive through that region there are miles and miles of ridges with the machines. And miles and miles of transmission lines cutting like a scar through an otherwise beautiful desert landscape.  

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