Michael Bloomberg pumps $500M into bid to close all US coal plants

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/michael-bloomberg-pumps-500-million-into-bid-close-all-us-coal-plants-2023-09-20/

by DocFeind • 3 years ago

33 23 3 years ago

reuters.com

unnamed76ri• 3 years ago

Sometimes you just wonder if the rich and powerful think that the middle class was a mistake and that they will do anything to correct it.

toomuchtodo5• 3 years ago

Sometimes the emotional, the uneducated, and the unsophisticated cling to irrationality in the face of facts and logic. Normally, this only impacts themselves (religion, for example). But when it impacts all of us collectively, effort must be expended to drive towards the optimal outcome (net zero electrical generation, in this case).

Only one coal plant in the US is cheaper to operate than replacement with batteries and renewables (Dry Fork Wyoming) [1]. Funds are being provided for a just transition [2], not throwing coal folks into the streets. Utilities and generators will retrain or offer other jobs to people not taking retirement buyouts. If they still want to keep coal because of their belief systems around identity, work, etc, well, too bad. The climate doesn’t care about your belief system.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37601970 (citations)

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2022/08/24/inf...

GenerWork• 3 years ago

Only one coal plant in the US is cheaper to operate than replacing with batteries and renewables

If it's cheaper to slap up some renewables and back them up with batteries then to continue to operate the plants, shouldn't power suppliers be making plans to shut the existing plants down right now? If they are, they why does Michael Bloomberg need to spend half a billion dollars to shut these plants down?

shrubble2• 3 years ago

If coal is un-economic, why in your view are the Chinese building out more coal burning plants? See https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160441919/china-is-building-...

Why wouldn't they only focus on battery and renewables as you put it?

Amezarak2• 3 years ago

It is not productive to declare that the people who don't agree with your policy goals are emotional, uneducated, and unsophisticated, clinging to "irrationality."

People have different values. They may not be able to articulate those values as well as you or I; they may not want to articulate them, because they don't think they'd be received well. But this is the root of the problem: people with different value systems see the same facts and come to different conclusions.

It's entirely possible even for an unemotional, educated, and sophisticated person to see "all the facts and logic" and disagree that your desired outcome is the "optimal" one. This tone just alienates.

Qwertious• 3 years ago

Good - this is a great way to starve US's domestic coal/gas lobby and prevent them from stalling climate progress.

thunkle• 3 years ago

I probably live in a bubble, are people pro-coal burning somewhere in the US?

peyton• 3 years ago

Yeah, the idea is rather than pay China for solar and battery REM, burn coal and jump to nuclear. The coal’s going to be burned in Africa anyway, so why enrich our rival (who is also burning coal).

postpawl• 3 years ago

https://texasgop.org/fossilfuelsresolution/

pcurve• 3 years ago

In the end, it's mostly about dollars and dense. Most coal plants are operated by large companies including Georgia Power, Duke Energy, AEP, etc. who have large coffers to fund lobbying effort to influence the public and regulators. They are mostly located in middle America and provide well paying jobs for the locals.

Even though no new coal plants are going up, they've made large capital investment building these plants in 70s and 80s, and they want to maximize the returns as long as possible, right up until the lifespan which is around 50 years.

So they're doing the minimum necessary to appease and avoid raising the ire of regulatory bodies and general public.

bradleyishungry• 3 years ago

There’s no real replacement plan for the coal mining jobs in the rust belt, so some people are somewhat justifiably against it there. Obviously we should move away from coal, but if that’s not addressed, a poor area is just going to get poorer. There should really be a plan to build alternative energy factories and train people in those areas

nitwit005• 3 years ago

There are a bunch of communities where the coal innevitably ran out, and the remaining people are stuck in poverty anyways.

In theory we can find those people new jobs, but they're generally in an inconvenient location for anything other than the mine that used to exist.

distract8901• 3 years ago

Lots of the southeast and probably elsewhere. In Kentucky and west Virginia, it's common to see black license plates on cars with a "coal keeps the lights on" slogan. People pay extra for them.

People here seem to be fundamentally incapable of considering the future in any capacity. Climate issues aside, we're simply going to run out of coal at some point. I'd wonder what those people think will happen then, but I know they just don't even consider it a possibility. Or at most it's a problem for a future generation that clearly doesn't concern them.

shrubble2• 3 years ago

People are pro-benefits that coal brings... which includes jobs, (hopefully) lower electricity rates, energy self-sufficiency. The price of coal isn't going to change much when there is conflict in the Middle East, for instance...

edmundsauto• 3 years ago

There is also an identity component to the energy religions. There are not many coal related jobs in the US, but there are millions of people who have tied their identity to it.

Similarly with renewables, although I admit my bias: renewables are more reasonable to support because they are clean, we won’t run out, and nowadays less expensive.

One can reason themselves into being a green energy fan, I’m not sure there is a reasonable way to decide to support coal.

esturk• 3 years ago

I just want to point out this is only aimed at coal power plants. This has nothing to do with other uses of coal which is used for steel making. According to the EIA, a little over 90% of coal is used for power[1]. But there is close to 10% of that used for Steel.

[1] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/use-of-coal.php#:~:....

Michael Bloomberg pumps $500M into bid to close all US coal plants

Related Stories