Coal-Fired Ethanol Plants? Really.
by Stacy Feldman - Feb 12th, 2008
You've heard of Dirty Coal. Everyone has. But here's a new one. Dirty Ethanol.
This Biofuels Digest article suggests coal is being deployed to power America’s corn ethanol industry -- replacing natural gas as its fuel of choice. It is very, very troubling news.
Worse, there are proposals on the table to build brand-new coal-fired plants to do the job -- at $1 billion a pop. And it's not the first time this trend is being reported.
Here's the latest (prepare to cringe):
Two coal-fired electricity plants, in Marshalltown and near Waterloo, have been proposed in Iowa to provide electricity for the growing collection of Iowa ethanol plants.
Why on Earth?
Alliant Energy, co-owner of the Marshalltown project, said that the needs of the ethanol plants can only be solved at this point in time by nuclear, natural gas or coal, and that natural gas is not economical while nuclear has been taken off the table due to environmental concerns.
Even without adding coal to the equation, corn ethanol is a biofuel experiment gone awry. It has caused:
- Food insecurity all over the world. Soaring prices on staple grains. Food riots. Increasing rates of hunger in poor nations.
- The release of more CO2 emissions than conventional fuels. Worsening climate change, at a time when the Earth's systems are being "tipped" into irreversible, dangerous states.
Add coal into the mix -- just about any mix -- and it gets worse.
The argument for using coal, of course, is as old as the hills. Coal is cheaper to use than natural gas, as the Oil Drum points out. But it's worth noting that coal prices are up 143 percent these days. And they're likely to stay that way. Forever. Not a good time to be building coal plants at all.
Big Corn and Big Coal. Just think of the lobby dollars they could deploy in Washington to greenwash their way to the top of the dirty energy food chain.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Coal to make Ethanol
The American people do not want to change the status quo. It will take a disaster like the impending depression, combined with a horrendous loss of huge proportion, similar to the fall of the Soviet Union, to cause the paradigm shift in the American psyche to adapt to the new world reality. We have used all the oil! We consume most of the worlds resources! Other nations now bid on those same resources! We are Broke! We are so polluted that we have lowered our own sperm count! Other nations have nuclear weapons! Other nations (China) produce what we produce but, for less! The very earth we plant our flag on has been raped by us! We no longer have educational or technical superiority in the world!
Burning coal to provide methanol to replace gasoline we can't afford, except by borrowing money from China, to drive huge gas-hog cars and trucks to our now insecure, low paying jobs is our way of solving problems - stupid eh!
Post new comment