Officials say power grid is on the brink {New England}

SeacoastOnline ^ | July 01, 2014 | Deborah McDermott

[GraceG]

[ Nonsense. The magic market-based forces are always at work. If there is not enough capacity, it is because there is not enough profit to overcome the regulatory hurdles. ]

Speaking of regulatory hurdles, we would already be having Safe Thorium Salt reactors built if the Government hadn’t interfered inthe development of them in the late 60’s because G.E. and the Defense Contractors raised a hissy fit...

Instead China will be making them and probably selling them back to us at some point....

[woodbutcher1963]

Don’t forget that did not want those ugly windmills in Nantucket Sound because they would ruin their view from their multi million dollar houses on the shore.

[Iron Munro]

$900 billion in stimulus spending could have built 100 new nuclear reactors if we would have used environmental lawyers for fill in the concrete footings.

[GraceG]

I’ve got a gasoline generator, but the next time I need to buy one for backup power, it will be a tri-fuel. (gasoline, propane, natural gas)

Could you power it off of wood gas?

[thackney]

Could you power it off of wood gas?

While technically possible, I would not do so unless there is a total economic collapse. Wood Gas is toxic, leaks could kill those around it. Much of it is Carbon-Monoxide.

[thackney]

we would already be having Safe Thorium Salt reactors built if the Government hadn’t interfered inthe development

If it is only our government holding up this energy source, why is it not already in use in places like Russia, China, France, etc?

[listenhillary]

I’m saving that picture.

[dynoman]

No. But a state that the Coop I work for has a green energy mandate - something like 25% of the energy mix must be renewable by 2025. A lot of wind farms have been built to meet that mandate. Wind is expensive and requires 100% backup, that is why it drove up the price of electricity.

The fuel pellets will drive up the cost of electricity the exact same way. Raising the price of energy that way will and is killing the economy.

[dynoman]

“If there is not enough capacity, it is because there is not enough profit to overcome the regulatory hurdles.”

Those profits come out of the pockets of consumers. That is why the price is electricity is “necessarily skyrocketing”. When energy costs more it stalls the economic engine - it’s more cost with decreased output. It’s like spraying gasoline into the air outside an engine and wondering why the engine is not making as much power as it used to make.

This is something the current Washington crowd hasn’t a clue about.

[woodbutcher1963]

The wood pellets will definitely drive up the cost of electricity if they are replacing coal. The point is that they do not have to shut down the plant completely. They have to retrofit it to burn pellets too. This is still a lot cheaper than adding the equipment to make them compliant with the CO2 output requirements.

[dynoman]

But why add expense for C02 removal when it won’t make a difference in atmospheric CO2?

By the same token - why spray urea in a boiler at $100-$500 per hour to remove NOx that won’t improve “regional haze” (commonly called fog) by any measurable amount?

[Organic Panic]

Of course no one there will blame Obama’s EPA for shutting down coal plants.

[onedoug]

soetoro very happy....

[woodbutcher1963]

I do not know the specifics of the science behind it. I just know that there are companies spending millions of dollars to build these plants to produce the torrefied pellets. So, someone is placing a huge bet on their future need.

[dynoman]

Yes that is a great example of crony capitalism - politicians create laws mandating less NOx and CO2 then crony capitalists rise to fill the need that the laws created ripping off a ton of money in the process.

Did you know that Buffet plugged billions in to BNSF within days of Obama stopping the Keystone pipeline? Crony Capitalism. And it’s killing our wonderful economic engine.