A Bleak Outlook for Trump’s Promises to Coal Miners

[guno]

Trump lied to those desperate people that the coal jobs are coming back





And these days, no matter who is president, coal is at the mercy of market economics. Coal’s No. 1 rival is cheap, cleaner-burning natural gas — which could become an even more potent competitor under the incoming administration. The probable easing of restrictions on pipeline building and loosening of rules on gas exploration and production would mean more natural gas reaching the market.


“I don’t think the Trump presidency will have a material impact on bringing coal miners back to work,” said Ted O’Brien, a coal analyst at Doyle Trading Consultants, a leading energy industry research firm.

Beyond the declining demand for coal, there has been an even more fundamental factor behind the shift in coal mining employment, which peaked decades ago. As with those in many industries, jobs in mining have fallen victim to automation. High-tech shears can now shave coal from underground seams — work that formerly required hundreds of miners. Surface mining, which has been increasing in recent years, has also replaced many workers with heavy machinery.

As a result, there are now just over 50,000 jobs in the American coal mining industry, down from a peak of more than 250,000 in 1980.



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/b...tlook-for-trumps-promises-to-coal-miners.html

Wrong, as usual. Coal is at the mercy of the EPA. Without massive taxpayer support "green" energy can't compete with any fossil fuel source save for hydro. That is a fact. As soon as the EPA gets someone in charge who doesn't have a financial interest in killing off coal, the industry will rebound.

Face it guano, the election was a catastrophe for your totalitarian socialist plans.

Mr. Westwall, you are totally batshit crazy. Coal is not coming back, for very substancial economic reasons. First is the price and availability of natural gas. Second is the rapid decline in costs for both solar and wind. And third is the emergence of cheap grid scale batteries. Coal is dead, and that is a good thing.

Your supposed declines in costs for wind and solar are phantoms, based on massive taxpayer subsidies. Coal is indeed more expensive than nat gas, however, the mines are already dug, and the fact remains that MANY plants are still coal fired. I never stated that coal would expand, (though it might based on China's needs), merely that it would recover.

4 Reasons the Cost of Solar Energy Keeps Falling - Earth911.com

The U.S. now has enough solar energy capacity to power 6.2 million homes, according to a recent report by the Solar Energy Industry Association. Solar power is growing at an unprecedented rate of 43 percent, year over year. The plummeting cost of solar energy is fueling a boom in popularity.

The mission of the SunShot Initiative by the Department of Energy is “to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional energy sources before the end of this decade, making this clean renewable energy resource more affordable and accessible to Americans.” The goal is to reduce the cost of solar energy to $.06 per kilowatt hour by 2020, and this appears to be very attainable at this point.
................................................................................................................................................................................
2. Solar Technology Advances
The greater the efficiency of the solar panels (and other equipment), the greater the overall energy production of the system. Although the most efficient solar panels available on the market have an efficiency of 22.5 percent, most panels are in the 14 to 16 percent range. This difference in efficiency means that one system can have a solar energy output that is 50 percent greater than a less efficient system. Some other associated costs are reduced by greater efficiency, such as racking system equipment, installation and transportation costs. Efficiency in turn fuels greater opportunities to sell more solar generation capacity, as many residential systems are limited by the space available for mounting panels.
Throw in the availability of home storage systems, and it is looking very good for solar. And the utility rates are now below 5 cents a watt.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlott...gy-plans-solar-and-storage-microgrid-for.html

 

[Old Rocks]

Anybody yet figured out how to make coke (a key ingredient in steel) out of natural gas?

What is it with you silly asses that just cannot stand the thought of clean cheap energy? Do you really think that we would have to stop producing coke because the gas fired generators are shut down? And the you really think that there are no alternatives to coke for processing steel? Ever see an electric furnace?

 

[william the wie]

In general I am agreeing with Old Rocks on what will happen with coal but he ignores that virtually all wind turbine we now have are badly antiquated and solar cells with Gallium Arsenide are highly toxic.

 

[AnCap'n_Murica]

What is it with you silly asses that just cannot stand the thought of clean cheap energy? Do you really think that we would have to stop producing coke because the gas fired generators are shut down? And the you really think that there are no alternatives to coke for processing steel? Ever see an electric furnace?

What is it with you silly asses who can't answer a direct question?

What is it with you silly asses who know nothing of the chemistry of metallurgy?

What is it with you silly asses who don't know that coke actually burns even cleaner than clean coal?

Coke (fuel) - Wikipedia

 

[Old Rocks]

Again, why do you think not using coal for the generation of electricity is going to end it's many other uses? And those uses are a very, very tiny fraction of the CO2 emissions of coal.