- Even in Alaskan a 400-kilowatt power plant geothermal plant, and it's producing electricity from lower temperature water than any plant in the world.
- Heat stored beneath the Earth's surface holds 50,000 times the energy of all the oil and gas in the world combined. And is an ideal source of base-load power: Geothermal is cleaner than fossil fuels, and more reliable than alternative sources like tidal, wind, wave and solar. Today, geothermal plants in the United States generate nearly 3000 megawatts of electricity—enough to power South Dakota. Almost all of it comes from reservoirs that are at least 300 F.
- This fall, Chena and United Technologies received a Department of Energy grant to install a demonstration plant at an oil or gas well in the United States. The nation's wells produce at least 40 billion barrels of wastewater per year, much of it low to moderate temperature. That's another 6000 to 11,000 megawatts of potential electricity.... Source Popular Mechanics
Wisconsin's emissions grew at a faster rate than the national average Associated Press: Wisconsin's emissions grew at a faster rate than the national average during the 1990s and can be expected to accelerate with growing reliance on coal-fired generators to produce electricity, a newspaper reports. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Sunday that its analysis of data from the federal Energy Information Administration showed greenhouse gases released in the state increased 26 percent in the 1990s, compared to the increase of 20 percent nationally. ...Link
JS Online likes to show a nice graphic and article saying how if everyone helped a little we can "save a lot"... These may seem like small and insignificant measures to help small families in local communities... however the average "sprawl lifestyle" with a 2,500 sqft home on a "clear cut" archer of land with two SUV's in the driveway can make a BIG difference with these little suggestions.
More importantly they state: Coal-fired plants are the most polluting way to generate electricity - contributing to air quality issues and public health problems. Coal plants also are the leading contributor to rising emissions.
George Meyer, former secretary of the state Department of Natural Resources, says Wisconsin already is years behind in curbing emissions because it failed to implement global warming action plans in the 1990s.
Bruce Nilles, a Sierra Club lawyer, agreed. Wisconsin needs to move more quickly to shut down coal plants and embrace alternative energy sources, he said.
"Right now, we take our energy dollars and send them to Wyoming to buy coal," he said. "We just need to decide as a state that we want to lead in reducing our wasteful energy practices. It's not about doing with less - it's about being smarter with what we have." Read more VIA jsonline.com
Environmental conditions are already approaching apocalyptic in a country where coal provides 70 percent of the country's power. Chinese scientists have predicted that the Yangtze River will die by 2011, and with two-thirds of other rivers polluted, more than 340 million Chinese lack access to clean drinking water. An estimated 400,000 Chinese die of pollution every year.
Good news:
Wisconsin rules require a 75 percent reduction in mercury emissions by 2015, but the DNR is considering changing that to a 70 percent reduction by 2018, to match federal regulations, Clean Wisconsin officials said. (read linked here)
More than two dozen organizations - including Clean Wisconsin, the Sierra Club and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - presented a petition to the state Department of Natural Resources asking for a rule that would require a 90 percent cut in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 2012.
Illinois has already approved a rule requiring a 90 percent cut in mercury pollution at each power plant by 2012 and Minnesota has a similar plan, to be achieved by 2014.