When all governance, lawsuits, regulation, mineral to watt, etc. is considered, I would agree. Coal is/was extremely viable until it was regulated to death....
FWIW - the current favorable energy pricing is due to the very fracking, lease expansion and other measures that are under wholesale assault... forcing yet another viable energy production means into extinction in favor of MUCH higher prices for alternatives and the simple fact that the petroleum products will be imported at a higher cost than produced domestically. Not willing to wade into the politics of either or the environmental perspective. This is just a simple statement of where power did/does/will come from and its associated btu cost.
I would argue that nuclear fision could and should be the most viable by far - but there are too many financial obstacles purposfully preventing that form happening.
Exactly - pretty nifty setups. Fairly low maintenance, low tech with respect to staffing and facilities labor too. You clearly know a lot more about the technology than I do as a curious bystander. I spent maybe 12-15 years in the underground coal industry and currently do work with an oil and gas drilling company.
That is my understanding of the units as well - not a grid replacement but an efficient means of supplemental power.
This is one of the units I am familiar with - https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbu...ctrical-plant-produces-power-and-savings.html
If I remember, it may have replaced coal boilers that were used to heat the entire campus.
Just over the lake from where I work is a 45MW CCGT that provides peak load to the town. From talking to people who know the tech it should have been deployed everywhere but other interests and politics has limited its rollout nationwide. And of course no trough of subsidies.
Everywhere I have worked has had a diesel generator. In my first job in aerospace they had 6 or 7 on side. This was late 80s and a hangover from the 70s blackouts. When we did have a power cut by the time they filled the tanks and started the generators the power was back on!
Sorry I really thought you were joking. Can be so hard to tell. But now I know I will be more careful.
that is pretty cool... not sure if I like the batteries under the floorboard part. Still cool though.
the pessimist in me bets that if the JHA finds out, the property owner has no right to harvest energy from the stream, even if it runs through their property. Imagine that can of worms!
Read about the rainwater collection lawsuits that are popping up all,over the country.
Not running out of coal, gas or oil anytime in the foreseeable future. Lack of supply is a self imposed hardship. A hardship “for the better good” that is causing the price of everything to rise while, actually just transferring much of the environmental impact, not eliminating it. But hey, it makes people, feel good!
Industry used to be run by industrialists. They were interested in keeping the factory working. Nowadays industry is run by accountants and lawyers; accountants want to avoid spending money, while lawyers are always looking for someone else to blame and sue. There is also the modern tendency to place responsibility for everything on someone else: if I fail my exams it is the school's fault; if I trip up I can blame the landowner; if I have an alcohol/gambling problem it is the fault of the pub/betting shop; if I scald myself it is the coffee shop's fault etc.mondogenerator said:
Maybe the trains were running Windows 10 so had to do an upgrade before rebooting?
Used Windows since the 1.0 preview
Own an IT consulting company
Manage windows server and desktop daily
I am now a full time Mac OS user because windows 10, and Microsoft are so absolutely bad. Not just "Windows 10" but everything they touch is becoming less stable, less ergonomic, less productive and more convoluted (in an attempt to force people into their cloud solutions).
Not even really a fan of the Apple stuff or Mac OS - it is just far more usable, stable and organic than Windows.
In Windows "server" situations - it has become more of a liability than ever, regardless of the power and technology that it exposes. Server updates/reboots are like the desktop now - you can't ignore them and they CAN and DO happen regardless of production schedule.
Anyway -
"worse" is a matter of perspective...
We had a president in the 70's that made some very poor decisions regarding energy. An artificial limit on supply created an unmeetable demand and insane pricing... (hint: some of the same crowd is back in the mix, attempting to drive policy now).
During the same time, the steel industry was in full swing, helping drive the rest of manufacturing. Energy demand was tremendous, most of it to keep the manufacturing rolling... Those well paying jobs allowed people to buy the products they produced.
The policy effects were devastating to Steel and manufacturing as a whole, both directly and indirectly as the economy was bludgeoned into a standstill. No money in pockets, no need for manufacturing... fewer jobs, less money on pockets...Higher taxes (19% home loans?)
Another guy was elected that did a lot to reverse course...
--
Here we are again 40 years later, ready to rinse and repeat.
So is it worse now? I would argue that we are well on the way, in more sectors than just energy
We had a president in the 70's that made some very poor decisions regarding energy. An artificial limit on supply created an unmeetable demand and insane pricing... (hint: some of the same crowd is back in the mix, attempting to drive policy now).
During the same time, the steel industry was in full swing, helping drive the rest of manufacturing. Energy demand was tremendous, most of it to keep the manufacturing rolling... Those well paying jobs allowed people to buy the products they produced.
The policy effects were devastating to Steel and manufacturing as a whole, both directly and indirectly as the economy was bludgeoned into a standstill. No money in pockets, no need for manufacturing... fewer jobs, less money on pockets...Higher taxes (19% home loans?)
Another guy was elected that did a lot to reverse course...
--
Here we are again 40 years later, ready to rinse and repeat.
So is it worse now? I would argue that we are well on the way, in more sectors than just energy
we had miners who tried to destroy the country and leaders of industry who couldn't lead. I'll have to have a few beers with DF96 some time and remind him about British Leyland in the 70s
I worked in the underground coal industry for a long time - I know a bit about UK mining operations and a good bit of mining history...For the most part, European coal mining methods were assbackward. Not up to speed if they have changed in the last 10-15 years, but they were not good through the 90's. Not sure about destroying the country... and don't know much about the politics of it over there.
You guys need to watch Transatlantic Tunnel , the scene where industrialists were "forced" to invest by making them listen to Beethoven until they broke was charming.
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