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Climate Central reports
The ravages of climate change could severely hurt the ability of utilities in the 11 Western states to generate power unless they "climate proof" their power grid using renewables and energy efficiency, something they are not prepared for, according to a new study[1] [by researchers at Arizona State University, published May 18 in the journal Nature Climate Change].
[...]Higher temperatures and low stream flow reduce coal-fired power plants' ability to use water for cooling, preventing them from operating at full capacity. The most vulnerable power plants could see a reduction in power generation capacity by up to 8.8 percent, the study says.
Renewables take a hit too, but are much less vulnerable to climate change.
[...]The Arizona State study recommends Western states invest in wind, solar, and other "resilient" renewable energy sources while upgrading the power grid and encouraging conservation as ways to overcome some of the challenges climate change poses to the region's power supply.
[1] Link in TFA redirects to the URL that I included.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 21 2015, @05:37PM
So if you believe climate change is man-made, you should reduce coal power in order to reduce climate change. If you believe climate change is of natural cause, you should reduce coal power in order to prevent losses. In both cases, the result is the same, reduce coal power and invest in renewable technologies.
Of course there are still those who deny that the climate changes at all. But those won't be impressed by any argument anyway.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 22 2015, @04:05AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 22 2015, @05:59PM
Coal is only the cheapest because its monetary cost isn't its full cost. If I steal stuff from my friends, its completely free to me, that means I should only steal stuff if I'm looking to acquire things for as cheap as possible. This, too, ignores the harm it directly causes to others. Just because its the cheapest monetarily doesn't mean its actually the cheapest.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 23 2015, @01:18AM
Coal is only the cheapest because its monetary cost isn't its full cost.
And as we've seen elsewhere in this discussion, one can arbitrarily invent vast imaginary costs. Keep in mind that not only are the countries embracing non-hydro renewables the most expensive places to buy electricity, they also tend to burn a lot of coal too.