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posted by mrpg on Saturday May 05 2018, @08:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the nobody-thinks-of-coal dept.

New research from North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado Boulder finds that steep declines in the use of coal for power generation over the past decade were caused largely by less expensive natural gas and the availability of wind energy -- not by environmental regulations.

"From 2008 to 2013, coal dropped from about 50 percent of U.S. power generation to around 30 percent," says Harrison Fell, an associate professor of resource economics at NC State and co-lead author of a paper on the work.

"Coal boosters blamed stiffer regulations, calling it a 'war on coal.' But that same time period saw a steep drop in the cost of natural gas and an increase in wind generation. We wanted to know how big a role each of these factors played in driving down the demand for coal."


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday May 05 2018, @07:57PM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday May 05 2018, @07:57PM (#676142) Journal

    net energy output does depend upon the efficiency of the machine

    Not really. It depends more on the Net Calorific Value of the fuel.

    Rank Type of Coal Calorific Value (MJ/kg)
    #1 Anthracite___________30 millijoule per kilogram
    #2 Bituminous__________18.8–29.3 millijoule per kilogram
    #3 Sub-bituminous______8.3–25 millijoule per kilogram
    #4 Lignite (brown coal)__5.5–14.3 millijoule per kilogram

    #5 Natural gas___________45.86 millijoule per kilogram

    Still gas is a good deal, and also about half the carbon released compared to coal.

    http://www.claverton-energy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/the_energy_and_fuel_data_sheet1.pdf [claverton-energy.com]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @05:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @05:00PM (#676397)

    Those are Mega-Joules, not milli. Your sneezes release more than a milli-Joule.