On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 12:50:58 -0500, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 11/15/18 11:57 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/15/2018 11:21 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 08:03:27 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:


From the Boston Globe:
---------

Wind has become a larger part of the energy mix as a result of
government policies requiring utilities to acquire power from
renewable sources such as wind and solar. Massachusetts, for example,
requires utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewable
sources by 2020.

Such policies have created markets for wind, leading to more
competition, better technology, larger projects, and ultimately lower
prices.

Over the life of the 15- to 20-year contracts, utilities would pay an
average price of less than 8 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with
projected prices of about 10 cents for coal, 11 cents for nuclear, and
14 cents for solar.

----------

Those are impressive numbers for anyone who has followed the history
of renewable power sources.Â* Solar has also come down a lot in price
but still needs additionalÂ* cost reductions to become competitive.



Wayne, a local who works for a local coal fired electric plant
predicts that coal furnace energy sources will be a thing if the past
within the next 40-50 years.

===

Not being a coal miner, or owning stock in one, I'd have to say that's
a good thing.Â* It might even happen sooner if alternate energy sources
continue to become cheaper.Â* Some of the worst air polution I've ever
experienced was in London during winter months, and it was all from
coal heating.Â* So called "clean coal" always seems to be somewhere off
in the future, if it is even possible.



As a kid I remember all the brick smokestacks on the buildings lining
the highway heading into Boston.Â* They were always bellowing white steam.

My younger brother who was only about 4 years old at the time thought
they were "cloud makers".

In the good old days, when I worked for The Associated Press in West
Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, I covered a lot of stories about the coal
industry and its workers, including the Consol No. 9 coal mine disaster
near Farmington, West Virginia. I never encountered one coal miner or
coal miner family who was pleased about working in the mines, or who
wanted a child of the family working in the mines. Sadly, then, and now,
there weren't many choices for employment in "coal country." It is
horrific work, it creates all manner of poisonous pollutants, and many
miners die from it, either in the mines or years later from diseases
they contract.


One of the fathers in my neighborhood in the 50s was a former miner.
He came to DC and got a job as a pressman for the Washington Herald.
He came home from work just about as black but at least he wasn't a
mile underground all day.
When the WaPo bought them out, he was laid off, they moved away and I
didn't hear from them again.