Stand to reason, the operating costs of a coal fired power station are immense compared to a renewable energy source. They can’t compete. That’s the major reason that industry doesn’t want to build them.
Here in Michigan Trump is using “emergency” orders to keep a coal plant running that the electric company was going to retire over a year ago. The order can only last 90 days but they’ve just renewed it every time.
Thanks to this bullshit, rates are going up because it’s costing so much to keep the thing going we’re losing money on it. Consumers Energy doesn’t even want to be operating it, they’re trying to get it shut down but hur dur coal good can’t allow that. And it’s not the only one affected by this crap.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/05/climate/trump-aging-coal-plants-electricity-bills
Maybe we could promise to poison 1 in 4 children as a compromise. At this point it’s pretty clear, they actively want innocence to suffer.
China used them and it is a funny situation on how there were complications and how they handled them and handled the further complications by their solutions. In the end they all lived happily ever after though in the funniest way possible.
Crinoline!
but experts say coal emits carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and several other pollutant
What the hell is this crap reporting. It’s not like this is a contested fact or an opinion.“Experts say power plants ‘burn coal to convert water into steam.’”
I mean, does anyone really know how these things operate?
The tide comes in. The tide goes out.
You can’t explain that!
Omg, I’ve explained this so many times on here. The tide comes in because the tide goes out. See? Everything has an explanation.
Water, fire, air and dirt; fucking magnets, how do they work?
Every power source is a solar power source if you follow the trail back far enough.
Deep sea vents aren’t, unless you’re including the formation of the solar system as ‘solar’
Also geothermal and nuclear power aren’t
unless you’re including the formation of the solar system as ‘solar’.
I did say “if you follow the trail back far enough.” Same goes for uranium. Born from supernovae (exploding stars).
*stellar, not solar, the carbon in coal wasn’t formed by our sun but a different star far in the past
Yeah but the trees that made it into hydrocarbons were fuled by our sun.
Now you’re just splitting hairs. I mean we’d still call solar panels “solar panels,” even if they were collecting energy from another star (say, on an interstellar spaceship).
I only use pure clean hydrogen unchanged from the big bang.
Much of North America has enjoyed electricity steady enough not to think much past don’t wiz on the electric fence.
That was a multi-generational achievement.
Sadly from personal experience, no, the general public does not know that coal power plants work by burning coal to boil water, and are horrified at how trashy the concept is.
High-key a great way to persuade them to support renewables. Associate coal with the image of people in underdeveloped countries burning fossil fuels in their own homes to exploit their own preconceived biases.
Alternatively you can depict it as filthy and Victorian. Something that was once an improvement, but these days really only belongs in a museum. You can compare it to child labor and accurately point out that the Victorian era was grimy and disgusting because of how much coal was burned then.
But what about “clean coal”? Checkmate, Atheists!
Ah yes, whitewashed coal !
I think they meant “an ALLEGED greenhouse gas”
Here’s some reading for you about who’s trying to mislead who: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil_climate_change_denial
Tell me you didn’t watch the video(s) without telling me you didn’t watch the video.
Removed by mod
The video is one and a half hours long so I don’t blame you, but it had the same point as you
I don’t even want to waste 10 seconds figuring that out, when the posting person could spend 2 seconds to make all of us save 10 seconds. Assuming we all have 90 min to spend on THEIR linked video, without saying a word, is arrogance I have no time for.
You spent as least that much when you made the same point as he did
I wrote to you, I didn’t send you away to some unknown link.
Really? You don’t know youtube or how to copy a link without clicking on it? Wow!
If you’re 5 you probably shouldn’t be using the internet but i can ELI5 you on how to, although i don’t think the topic will interest you.In their defense, most of the time when someone just posts a YouTube link on social media it’s a complete waste of time. Video is very slow to get to the point, that’s why we’re reading!
This particular youtuber is know to be “slow”, but thorough in the topics he covers.
This particular video has an “extra” 30m, you can stick to just the first hour.
The TL;DR is that solar makes more sense than coal in the murican Midwest.“solar makes more sense than coal in the murican Midwest” - Thanks, I actually don’t need a 30 minute video for this.
Clicking on a link without knowing the website it leads to?
most of the time when someone just posts a YouTube link on social media it’s a complete waste of time
Completely different arguments. This is moving the goalposts
Fair, I assumed they meant the channel in context.
It’s not moving goalposts, it’s level 1 and level 2.
Have to sit through ads just to see it’s a 90 minute video with next to no context of why I should trust this person with my time. In a era where most info is at best wildly ignorant and at worst maliciously misleading?
I refuse to believe that anyone using the internet to get smarter doesn’t know who Technology Connections is…
Good point.
(1:20:24) We are clearly living under leaders who have a completely different understanding of reality than the rest of us do, and they are so high on their own supply that their followers will believe abject lies. Renewable energy is only controversial because they made it so. And they don’t want you thinking through the reality which is free energy from reusable materials, as I’ve just explained. They have donors who still make money selling you fossil fuels, and so they do not want you thinking about how much you’re spending and how we have the opportunity to stop.
(1:27:13) Be that helping hand. Organizing networks are popping up everywhere because those of us who managed to grow up into adults, who care about people other than ourselves, are not going to stand by and let this illegitimate government run by petulant toddlers, violate the Constitution and the very principles that make America great. My fellow Midwesterners in Minnesota have made me so proud. Stay strong and keep teaching us how to be brave and resist this horrible chapter of our history with steadfast, nonviolent defiance. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a lawless group of masked thugs terrorizing our cities and neighbors for daring to look not quite white. Anyone who has any understanding of history will know that it is happening here. And if you believe that to be true, then you should also believe that ICE must be abolished. And if that freaks you out, I’m going to guess you’ve been told the people who say that want completely open borders. Some people do, but most people simply took the poem on the Statue of Liberty as meaningful and think this country should open its arms wide and provide a legal pathway to immigration. Just as our ancestors did on the storied Ellis Island. It is our decades long inability to have true immigration reform occur which put us in this place and what we’re doing today to fix it is clearly wrong. It is a racist ethnic cleansing operation happening on the pretext of childcare fraud, which was already being investigated and dealt with by the state of Minnesota, but which some terminally online weirdos somehow got wind of and spun into this madness. And that madness is being perpetrated by agents of the state and endorsed by Republicans. Republicans could stop this now, but they won’t. and the reason I know we absolutely can abolish ICE? I am older than ICE. In fact, I’m older than the entire Department of Homeland Security. That agency was created post 9/11. And in retrospect, the folks who thought “Homeland” Security sounds kind of ominous were apparently correct. We need to throw this system out and start over. And so, yes, I believe ICE must be abolished. There is no reforming that agency of thugs. It has to go. And the lawless criminals hiding behind masks who are violating the Fourth Amendment day in and day out, need to be prosecuted for each and every one of their crimes. I will be voting in the primaries and I sure as well hope my representative, Sean Casten, starts saying that with clarity and conviction. Sean has been one of the people who understand the realities of renewable energy, and has been a long time advocate of it, so we’ve been pretty aligned, but we’re not aligned on everything. And my patience is starting to break. So if you made it here. Thank you for watching. I hope we can bring some sanity back to this country and that we can start calling lies what they are.
You watch ads?
Spot on!!! 🥇
😆 🤣 I can’t argue with that logic can I? It’s the only possible conclusion! Name-calling, insults, etc. You keep dig yourself deeper. But seriously, if my life depends on fossil fuels, you can relax, soak in the sun, and we’ll all be crawling to you. You don’t even have to bother with trying to mislead anyone.
He called you names after pointing out you can copy a link without opening it. What about that? You implied doing that is impossible:
Clicking on a link without knowing the website it leads to? By someone who doesn’t bother to say anything about the link? 😆 😂 🤣
Those are the emojis of someone who’s confidently wrong. Just admit you didn’t even bother what the video tries to say by reading the comments.
“you can copy a link without opening it. What about that?”
I have no problem with you doing that.
“You implied doing that is impossible”
Sure … copying links is impossible … let’s go with that … confidently wrong … maybe one day you’ll understand.
If it’s about capacity factor then most people know about that by now.
I’ve posted a TL;DR somewhere on the thread already and I don’t recall Alec mentioning “capacity factor”, but maybe he referred to the same concept by a different name.
You dint know what capacity factor is? Is the main criteria used for comparing different types of power sources.
The MAGA response “No it didn’t! No it didn’t! Fox and The Anointed One didn’t say so! Fake news! Fake news!”
Coal is black and dusty, solar panels are black and clean, it’s clean coal as promised!
Great, but that doesn’t mean less coal is being burned. The article says the share of coal in the total power of the US has been halved over the last five years but again, how much less coal has been burned? That’s the important part.
Only speaking in parts tends to miss this:
On a global scale, energy sources cumulate, they don’t replace each other.
You’re right, there isn’t enough replacing going on. Fossil production must be reduced.
All to be eaten by glutton data centers. Ugh.
Or torn up by braianwashed regressives.
This is actually a pretty major indictment on the US. Coal is one of the worst most inefficient fuel sources for power generation, virtually every other fuel source is an improvement including incineration of food waste.
A good test of how efficient fuel is is to see how much of it you still have left after you’ve theoretically burnt all of it. The fact that coal smoke is black is a pretty good indication of how bad it is. You’re throwing away a good chunk of your fuel.
I love the trivia that there’s traces of uranium in coal which go up with the smoke - coal is worse than nuclear in terms of radiological pollution.
When looking if it was feasible to convert coal power plants to nuclear, we found out that most of the coal sites have more radioactivity than is allowed for a future nuclear site
And Mercury
What does Freddie have to do with this ?
This is an often misquoted fact. The study that compared coal and nuclear was only studying air pollutants, and obviously the steam stacks from nuclear reactors don’t have as much radionuclide pollutants as coal. However, the study did not look at other sources like wastewater - which is where most radionuclide pollution from nuclear reactors comes from (along with other sources like spent fuel, casings, and moderator rods).
Sure, but I assume it’s easier to collect wastewater for proper disposal than the air pollutants.
In spite of the idiocracy
Solar is more efficient. The corporations will move over to the most efficient power source regardless of what the administration may or may not want. Continuing to use coal just to appease Trump is stupid.
Anyway they can just lie and say that they are using coal for everything, it’s not like anyone is going to check
Bold of you to try to make a distinction between this admin and corporations. But of course, they’ll hedge. My point is that they do so uphill and slowly, without the research, subsidy/tax incentives and media praise that would typically accelerate progress towards such an obvious next step
Companies tend to be international. No matter what they might be telling the Trump administration in the United States if they’ve got solar desires in other parts of the world they’re going to pursue them without having to prostrate themselves at the altar of idiocy. Hell, they might get praise in other countries for pursuing solar.
So they know the economic benefits and they know their benefits would be doubled if they were operating in the US as well.
Those corporations are happy with the Hormuz situation you think? More likely they let grandpa shit his pants on TV because the current idiocracy is even more corrupt than the previous oligarchy.
The current problem with mass solar plants is that they lose a good chunk of the stored energy before it is distributed to where it goes. Obviously far better than coal, but the panels need to be at the source of where they need to go, hence why roof top solar panels on buildings are great idea. Wind power is a lot more efficient, but it isn’t like we can all plonk big windmills on our roofs.
Solar energy isn’t magic. Power efficiency losses are the same for all power generation sources.
I genuinely couldn’t believe it. Wow.
Don’t let drumpf know, he’ll find a way to have it reversed. Remywhen he used usa taxpayer funds (a billion or so usd) to cancel a windfarm?
🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🎉🎉🎊🎊🎉🎊🎊
Capitalism does work afterall
First time ? (Spaniard here)
A few solar resources for all:
Electrical energy. You’re still not getting off fossil fuels for a long time, the only way is either we all live in car-less 300sq.ft condos with no windows and central laundry, or population reduces drastically.
Coal is mostly used to produce electricity and steel. So more electricity from solar then coal is actually good news.
However oil and gas are much harder to replace, but again we actually have a lot of the technology, it is “just” about rolling it out on scale, which is hard.
I’ve only driven an electric car for the last 4 years with an 65 mile daily commute. I save ~$1000 a year on electricity vs gas. My affordable electric accelerates way faster than my previous turbocharged Audi A4.
But the best part is, I never have to go to a gas station.
A serious question. Are you paying a road tax to drive on the roads with your EV yet? In the US, some states are now starting to look into how to charge EV owners a road use tax. ICE cars pay that tax at the pump and the more you drive, the more tax you pay. EV owners that charge at home, (and who wouldn’t do that), currently pay no road taxes because they buy no or very little “fuel”.
I’m interested to know what the states think is a fair tax amount. Particularly since EV owners tend to be wealthier than most people. And what EV owners think of paying such a tax.
My state charges an EV tax at vehicle registration renewal that is substantially more than the tax that would be paid on gasoline. I’d have to drive around 5 times what I do before it starts getting close. There were talks of adding some other kind of tax too, beyond this, which would be double dipping. I’m the kind of person that would happily pay taxes although I find the execution of this poor since it is largely rooted in entrenched interests. Namely selling ethanol.
The thing about fuel taxes is you pay based on how much you drive. More drive, more fuel, more taxes. And I’m sure you don’t drive all that many miles every year. But, what about someone that drives their EV 2x what you do. Which causes 2x the road wear and tear that you do. Is a flat tax fair to you?
EV owners that charge at home, (and who wouldn’t do that), currently pay no road taxes because they buy no or very little “fuel”.
They pay no road tax for fuel but they do pay road taxes elsewhere. Roads are not funded solely on fuel taxes.
Obviously fuel taxes do not cover the whole cost of road maintenance, and they haven’t for decades. Where are those EVs paying road use taxes beyond registration and license fees? The more you drive an ICE car, the more fuel tax you will pay. And that’s fair. Shouldn’t EVs pay for the mileage they drive on the roads too? Is it OK that an EV that doesn’t drive many miles a year should pay the same flat tax/fee that another EV that gets driven 3x as many miles?
I’m all for EV use, I’d own one if I could afford one for sure. But the prices are a bar to ownership. In any case, states ARE looking into chiseling into the lost revenue that EVs are currently ducking. They want the revenue stream.
There are local taxes on energy/electricity commerce in some number of jurisdictions, if that matters. New York, as an example: https://www.tax.ny.gov/forms/publications/st/pub718r.htm
I’d have to look into whether or how the mentioned—waived—4% state tax would apply on non-residential chargers. I would tend to imagine that any taxes on such would more-or-less cover the same.
Edited for clarity and to include link to example.
