How to close half your coal plants in only 10 years.

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Hang on to your teaparty hats; 2020 is just around the corner on the road to a coal-free America. Free at last!

Regional energy planners say improved efficiency, conservation, wind power and gas will help the Pacific Northwest meet electricity demand over the next 20 years without adding an extra lump of coal.

So it's unanimous: No coal; only wind, gas, efficiency.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council unanimously adopted a regional energy plan Wednesday that avoids any new coal-fired plants for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana through 2030.

Coal-burning power plants spew out over 80% of the GHG emissions by the region's electric power system.

Coal provides more than a fifth of the energy in a region dominated by clean hydropower from a system made up of 31 federal dams that produce electricity marketed by Bonneville, based in Portland. But Kearns noted the small scattering of coal plants in the region produces more than four-fifths of the power system's greenhouse gas pollution.

The Pacific Northwest leads the rest of the nation towards a coal-free America.

She said the council's latest plan shows "that a future without coal is not prohibitively expensive, it is not difficult for utilities to achieve and it will not jeopardize power reliability in the Northwest."

But how can 4 states cost-effectively shutdown at least half, if not more, of their coal-fired electric power plants in only 10 years, you may wonder?

The coal industry in the Pacific Northwest received a heavy blow yesterday with the release of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s (NWPCC’s) Sixth Power Plan, describing how the region encompassing Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana can cost-effectively shut down at least half its coal plants (including coal plants outside the region that supply these states with electricity) by the year 2020. Major Analysis Shows Road to a Coal-Free Northwest

re: "So coal is not going away anytime soon."
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A New China Epoch Be Upon Us All.

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Man up, an overview of China's Energy Industry:

To support its astounding economic development, China has been building up a massive power generation capacity at an accelerated pace. In a span of six years, China has more than doubled its capacity.

Currently, China’s installed capacity is about 65% that of the United States’ while its production volume is about 80% that of the United States. As China’s urbanization and industrialization continues, the nation is expected to overtake the United States to become the world largest electricity producer in 2010.

Since 2007, China’s coal market has been fully liberated and power producers are no longer entitled to preferential price treatment. According to the nation’s plans, by 2020, its nuclear capacity will reach 40 GW and its wind power capacity will reach 30 GW.

If you really want to appreciate the economic scale of our biggest competitor in the 21st Century, and haven't the spare fen or jiao to spend a few weeks touring Shanghai, Beijing, et al, be sure to browse China Knowledge. What the Chinese have already accomplished since 1978 is nothing short of epical, while most Americans still don't have a clue of what we're up against.

The reform that started in late 1978 has turned China into the fastest growing major economy in the world.

Time, perhaps, to sign up for that Mandarin class.
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The WEA?

Simon Linnett, Executive Vice-Chairman of Rothschild, has called for a new international body, the World Environment Agency, to regulate carbon trading.

In a recently published paper, Trading Emissions, for the Social Market Foundation, Mr Linnett argues that the International problem of climate change demands an international solution.

Unless governments cede some of their sovereignty to a new world body, he says, a global carbon trading scheme cannot be enforced and regulated. Carbon trading must be globally regulated

America's Youth in the Vanguard

Due to the amazing work of students and organizers, The North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) is revisiting the permitting process for Duke Energy’s proposed Cliffside coal facility.

Last Thursday, students from North Carolina spearheaded a national call-in day to the offices of Governor Mike Easley and Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers to stop Duke Energy from constructing a new 800 mega-watt coal-fired power plant in Cliffside, NC. Their efforts garnered over 500 calls to the governor’s office and similar numbers to the Jim Rogers’ direct line at Duke Energy. On the same day, two other students from North Carolina dressed as polar bears were arrested while blockading the entrance to Duke Energy’s headquarters in Charlotte.

Over the weekend, the momentum continued to build. Dr. James Hansen of NASA spoke to a crowd of over 700, including Jim Rogers, in uptown Charlotte Friday evening and to a jam-packed auditorium in Chapel Hill on Saturday afternoon. “The physics of the problem tells us that we cannot put the carbon from all that coal into the atmosphere,” he said. “It just hasn’t sunk into policy makers.” Hansen also wrote N.C. air-quality officials in opposing the Cliffside expansion earlier this fall. North Carolina Student Climate Coalition Convinces State to Revisit Permit on New Coal Plant!