North Carolina has 67 operating coal-fired power units at 25 locations totaling 13,279 megawatts (MW).
A Shocking History of North Carolina's Coal Plants
Coal-fired power plants produced about 62 percent of the electricity generated in North Carolina. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects this amount to be 67 percent by 2010.[1]
North Carolina produces a disproportionately large amount of carbon dioxide, in large part because of the state’s numerous coal plants, and ranks 14th in the nation in CO2 emissions. The state produces 77 million tons of CO2 every year, an amount only slightly less than California’s 79 million tons, despite the fact that North Carolina’s population is one quarter the size of California.[2]
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| One of Duke Energy Coal Ash Spills |
North Carolina-based Duke Energy is planning an 800MW expansion at its Cliffside plant that would emit an additional 6.25 million tons of CO2 per year. Duke Energy is the nation’s third largest producer of carbon dioxide, emitting 108 million tons of CO2 per year, despite CEO Jim Rogers’ public calls for federal legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Duke’s eight plants in North Carolina produce 41 million tons of CO2 each year, more than half of the state’s total yearly carbon dioxide emissions.[2]
In May 2010 the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report titled, Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal. In the paper the group reported that North Carolina was the second most coal dependent state in the country, spending $2.3 billion on coal imports in 2008.[3]
A
B
C
D
E
G
I
L
M
P
R
Cost of Coal Compared to Other Fuels
Fuel Cost Btu Content $/MMBTU
Wood Chips $34/ton 5,000 Btu/lb $4.25
Switchgrass $60/ton 7,500 Btu/lb $5.00
Coal $120/ton 25 MMBtu/ton $6.00
Oil $2.50/gal 140 MBtu/gal $22.32
Natural Gas $1.25/therm 100 MBtu/therm $15.63
Switchgrass
• A native, warm season grass
• Requires minimal fertilizer and water
• Can grow on marginally productive land
• Harvest with traditional agricultural equipment
• Switchgrass will yield 3-4 tons per acre
• Low density, benefits to densifying
• Immature market: Harvesting would create jobs for decent people
Natural Gas
- Is the cleanest fuel next to hydrogen
- Requires drilling and fracking
- Failing gas pipe infrastructure
- Natural gas is highly explosive
Oil
- Can be burned far more cleanly than coal.
- Not renewable
- Expensive
- Causes major environmental disasters
- Drilling and refining is dangerous
Wood Chips
- Can be burned cleanly
- Renewable
- Not enough trees to meet demand
Coal
- Coal mining harms the environment and kills the miners.
- Coal ash kills
- Fly ash from coal kills
- Coal cannot be burned cleanly
- Coal plants increase cancer rates
- Coal plants cause many diseases in children
- Coal stinks
Good evening Fat Bastardo!!!
ReplyDeleteI have read, sometime last year, that CO2 levels have gone up to about 400 parts per million, the highest it has been for the past 5 million years.
So far, since 2010, under the Obama administration, 150 coal burning power plants have been shut down, and will be replaced with either wind or solar power. Another 200 coal burning plants are scheduled be shut down.
This is good news!
But all the right-wing Republican bed-wetting ignoramuses are crapping in their diapers, crying WAH WAH WAH!
Yeah, North Carolina is just another Republican retard state.
Also . . . . . back in 2013, climate scientists were warning that sea levels will rise another 1.5 meters before 2100, the estimates were based on more recently collected data. This will naturally cause problems for people who own beach front properties.
Well . . . . . Republican politicians wanted to pass legislation that would disallow scientists from publicly speaking about sea level rises, that they should only use the old data going back to the 1930 instead of the latest data, or else, the scientists could face a possible prison sentence.
Yeah! Climate scientists were being told to shut the fuck up!
Oh gee! When was the last time a scientist was told to shut the fuck up?
Hmmm . . . let me think . . . don't tell me . . . . . thinking . . . thinking . . . thinking . . . thinking . . . thinking . . .
Oh! I know! It was Galileo! Yeah! It was Galileo, back in the 1600s!
Yeah! That's it.
Back when the Catholic church's official doctrine was that the sun and all the planets revolved around the earth, Galileo said that the earth and all the planets revolved around the sun.
After his first trial before the Holy Office, Galileo was told that he could not publicly teach anything about the new theory.
Another words, Galileo was issued his official Shut The Fuck Up papers.
But over the years, Galileo would not shut up! Good for him! Yeah! Stick to your guns, ol' boy! Don't let them intimidate you!
But . . . . . eventually . . . he was told to pack his Gucci bags and leave his home in Florance Italy to appear before the Holy Office in Rome.
Galileo was interrogated for hours, threatened with torture, and finally, poor old Galileo, being an old man, and not well, he broke down and recanted.
Yeah! He was forced to sign a false confession, whereupon he was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life.
North Carolina legislators wanted to do the same thing to climate scientists, to issue them their official Shut The Fuck Up papers.
Well . . . fortunately, the legislation didn't pass. Retards don't always win!
This is now 2014 but Republicans are still living in 1614.
Stupid retards!!!
Teddy Bear
In a way I hope that sea levels rise sow that Florida with be under water.
ReplyDeleteThe criminal Republicans is NC have gerrymandered the state. The Congressman left is GK Butterfield not only is he a man of the people but he is also fat. He's one of the few decent congressmen left. Fat men are wise.
Good evening Fat Bastardo:
DeleteYes, North Carolina Congressman, GK Butterfield is a Democrat. I checked him out on Google.
By the way . . . . . not all fat men are wise.
Rush Limbaugh, for example: he's a great big bag of douche! Also Jerry Falwell was an idiot. Well, actually, he's not shit anymore, because he's DEAD!!!
And I can think of some more idiots who give us fat guys a bad name!
Anyway . . . . .
North Carolina does have some blue counties, just like Texas, a red state, has some blue counties, and the number of blue counties has recently increased a little bit since 2012. El Paso County, where I live is blue. So, I'm happy about that.
In the meantime . . .
Check out my one of my YouTube Playlists . . .
Coffee With Claire (With An Occasional Beer)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE9F800C17E2D855A
And her channel page at . . .
https://www.youtube.com/user/WildwoodClaire1/videos?view=0&flow=grid
WildwoodClaire1lives in North Carolina, and she is a retired geologist who use to do surveys for a coal company. She lives in a blue county. You should also check out her Geodyssey videos. Yes, she's a Hillbilly, but a well educated Hillbilly, and I love her down home country style.
The astronomers, Edwin Hubble and Harlow Shapley, they were also a couple of down home country boys from the south. One of them was born in the Ozarks.
Also, Dr. Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto, and whom I had known personally, when I was living in Las Cruces, New Mexico, he was a farm boy born in Kansas.
Anyway . . . . .
I have 10 different Playlist devoted to her Geology videos, and I now have a total of 333 Playlists on my channel. Yeah! Half of a beast!
Yeah! The Big Fat Heretic with a big fat YouTube channel. I probably have more Playlists than all the other channels.
I wish I could afford a decent video camera so I can make my own videos, instead of just favoring other user's videos to my Playlists.
Anyway . . . . .
Getting back on topic again . . .
To be continued below . . . . .
Teddy, feel free to embed links to your channel into the comment section here on Bigger Fatter Politics.
DeleteHere's the code Home You put the URL between the quotation marks and the link ttitle where is says home.
I have been spamming the shit out of right wing blogs using this method. I have seen a 30% increase in traffic.
Butterfield is a ballsy guy and a good guy.
Sadly there are a lot of Republicans who give fat guys a bad name.
Western NC has a lot of open minded people but other parts of the state is full of Christ Tards.
. . . Continued from above . . .
ReplyDeleteAnyway . . . getting back on topic again.
Although WildwoodClarie1 once did surveys for a coal company, she has since then retired.
She's an atheist, and she has come out as a lesbian, and she is a left-wing dyed in the wool Democrat to boot. I love that gal with her down home country style. She's a fine lady, and every Sunday, I always look forward to her coffee videos.
Yeah! Sometime I like to talk southern! I like Hillbillies if they're well educated. In fact, I think it's kind of cool to listen to a science lecture with a southern accent.
Anyway . . . . .
Speaking of climate change . . . call it what you like, global warming, or climatic discontinuity, I don't care which. But it is a scientific fact!
OK, our planet has gone through many natural cycles of global warming and global cooling over the past 4.5 billion years.
Yes, Republicans! About 4.5 BILLION years, and NOT 6,000 years! OK?
And perhaps . . . our present cycle of global warming could be just another natural cycle. I'll grant that.
But . . . . . and it's a big but . . . . . isn't it rather coincidental that our present cycle of global warming, sort of started, with the beginning of the industrial era back in the late 1700s or early 1800s? Eh?
OK, this may have started out as just another natural cycle. But we smart human apes (yes! we are apes! We're primates! So, I'm a fat little ape myself! OK?) have been contributing to the rise in global temperatures, and have sped up this cycle so that global temperatures are rising a little faster and a little higher than it would have otherwise.
No, it's not going to be the end of the world, and we human apes are not going to go extinct because of it, but it's not going to be a picnic either!
About 60,000, yes, sixty-thousand years ago, there was an ice age, and we human apes were on the verge of becoming extinct. but, our human ape ancestors survived it. They were probably fat! You'd almost have to be to survive an ice age.
Most Eskimos up in Alaska are chubby, and most of the people living in Iceland are fat, and Iceland actually has a longer average life expectancy than the USA! So, suck on that CG Brady!!! Of course, they do eat a lot of fish which might account for their longevity. And they're probably smarter than most American, because, fish really is brain food!
Anyway . . .
Getting back on topic again . . .
We human apes won't go extinct, not unless we do something really stupid, like having a nuclear war, which would set us back to the stone age again, with perhaps only a few survivors.
To be continued below . . . . .
There is money behind global warming IMO. It's more that just selling fossil fuels. When the climate goes haywire the agriculture corporation will control food supplies. There will be starvation disease and war and the corporate gangs will prosper.
Delete. . . Continued from above . . .
ReplyDeleteGetting back to global warming again . . .
You know, sometimes I get a really great big fat belly-laugh when I read about all these Republican retards who deny the science of climate change! Yes! Global warming! OK! Climatic discontinuity! I get it!
I don't know which state is more Retarded! North Carolina, or Texas!
For example: This website at:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_09/galileo_got_outvoted_for_a_spe032063.php
From Washington Monthly, POLITICAL ANIMAL blog.
September 08, 2011 11:20 AM ‘Galileo got outvoted for a spell’
By Steve Benen
[quote] "Perhaps the most quoted line from last night’s (September 08, 2011) - - - (Republican debate referenced, of all people, Galileo Galilei.
QUESTION: Gov. Perry, Gov. Huntsman was not specific about names, but the two of you do have a difference of opinion about climate change. Just recently in New Hampshire, you said that weekly and even daily scientists are coming forward to question the idea that human activity is behind climate change. Which scientists have you found most credible on this subject?
PERRY: Well, I do agree that there is — the science is — is not settled on this. The idea that we would put Americans’ economy at — at — at jeopardy based on scientific theory that’s not settled yet, to me, is just — is nonsense. I mean, it — I mean — and I tell somebody, I said, just because you have a group of scientists that have stood up and said here is the fact, Galileo got outvoted for a spell.
Putting aside Rick Perry’s confusion about the consensus on climate science, I’m still not sure what the Galileo reference is even supposed to mean.
He “got outvoted”? If by “outvoted,” Perry means “deemed a heretic by the Inquisition for proving heliocentrism,” then sure, Galileo “got outvoted.”
But in context, what is it, exactly, that Perry is trying to say? Galileo was, after all, correct. His ideas were controversial and inconvenient for society’s most powerful leaders of the day, but the facts were on his side.
Does Perry think Galileo’s experience bolsters the case against climate science? Maybe someone can translate this one for me; I can’t find my far-right decoder ring this morning." [End Quote]
Oh! Really? So, Galileo was outvoted???
To be continued below . . . . .
. . . Continued from above . . .
ReplyDeleteOh! Really? So, Galileo was outvoted???
NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!
They didn't vote on shit!
Instead, their verdict was, that Galileo was guilty of heresy, and he was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.
I knew about this stuff when I was only a kid in the 5th grade.
OK, I'm going off topic here . . .
Anyway . . . . . back when I was in the 5th grade, my sports-obsessed teacher would not allow me to check out Astronomy books from the school library. So, I went to the public library instead, and checked out books on Astronomy, and on Galileo, and a book about the Inquisition. Yeah, all the books I was not allowed to read in school.
After that, I must admit, I did become more rebellious, and more anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian, and eventually, anti-Christianity.
And NO! CG Brady! As you had said in previous comments in previous articles . . .
I did not "mouth off" at my teacher! I merely asked a valid question, as to why I was not allowed to check out a particular book on Astronomy, while all the other students were allowed to check out any book they wanted from the school library. I only wanted equality.
And I got my head bashed against the corner of a concrete block wall in an argument over a book I was not allowed to read.
And yes! I did have a severe head concision. Because, after the sharp blow to the back of my head, I felt dizzy, staggered around, and blacked out.
Yeah! My lights went out, and when my lights came back on again, I found myself sitting in the principal's office, not knowing how I even got there! And my mother had to come and take me home that day.
The following year, that teacher was fired! And he was unable to get a teaching job anywhere else after that incident.
But, for me, the damage was done, having dizzy spells and headaches, from the age of 11 on, and through out my teenage years. And when I came home from school, Alka Seltzer on the rocks with a twist of lemon was my favorite drink!
And NO! CG Brady! I was NOT a coward who needed to "man up" which in the "Christian" USA, means to dumb down!
And yes, I did have post traumatic stress after that. But, that did not make me a coward! I was NEVER a coward!
For a kid, I was even braver than your favorite sociopathic hero, General Patton, because, that was when I became engaged in my own personnel battle against book censorship.
A very worthy cause!
And furthermore . . . one of my favorite Civil War heroes is Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll who fought for the north.
And guess what!!! He became FAT and bald in his old age!
And if . . . he were still alive during WWII, he would find General Patton to be despicable! If Patton had not been a military officer, that psychopathic sociopath would have been a just another serial killer, sort of like Ted Bundy was, many decades later! General Patton was a piece of dog-shit!
Also, Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll was against corporal punishment on children. And he believed that women should be allowed to vote, that a woman should have all the rights and privileges that men have, plus one more, the right to be protected. And he was for the separation of church and state, and he accepted Darwin's EVOLUTION!!!
And if he were alive today, he would be the perfect father to his children, and the perfect husband to his wife. Yeah! A 21st century type of man who lived and died in the 19th century.
And he was against book censorship, and believed that kids should be allowed to read any book they wanted.
OK, Fat Bastardo . . . I know CG Brady is one of your friends.
That's alright with me. I don't care one way or the other. He may be one of your friends.
But he is mine enemy on the Internet.
Teddy Bear
The entire mind set created by Christianity breeds fascism and despots.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Christians will say that Hitler and Stalin were atheists but the truth is Hitler was a hardcore Christian and Stalin was raised to be a Greek Orthodox priest and he was strongly influenced by Christianity. Check out my article about Stalin not being an atheist or not much of an atheist.
Stalin Was Not An Atheist
Hello again Fat Bastardo!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have read your two latest articles.
Those Christards are lying sacks of shit! They lie like a piss-soaked wet rug on a shit-house floor!
Guess what!!! You're gonna like this.
Tonight, I have started creating a new blog.
THE BIG FAT HERETIC
(Description)
This web blog is dedicated to intellectual and academic freedom, and the separation of church and state, in support of science education in our public schools, and opposed to any and all attempts by right-wing Republican morons to insert Creationism into public school science classes. America was intended by our founding fathers to be a secular nation, and not some damn theocracy! This is my domain, and I'm large and in charge!
And under that, is a photo of me and my Galileo telescope on the patio of a Starbucks observing the June 5,2012 transit of Venus across the face of the sun.
And the side panel, "About Me" with a smaller version of the same pic, and it says . . . . .
[B] Big Fat Heretic
I'm 62 years old and I was born on September 30, 1951. Yeah, OK! I'm a fat guy, 5 feet 6 inches, and I weighed almost 400 pounds when this photo of me, sitting in my JAZZY power chair, was taken back in June 5,2012 where I had my Galileo telescope set up on a patio at a Starbucks to observe the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. Notice the circular sun-shade casting a shadow onto a white screen that I'm holding up in my hand. I used a 2X Barlow lens to project the sun's image onto the white screen to observe the sun spots and the transit of Planet Venus across the face of the sun. This is the safest method to observe the sun with a telescope. I'm a Big Fat Heretic, and I'm large and in charge!
Please do Check it out! Let me know what you think.
Go to . . . . .
http://big-fat-heretic.blogspot.com/
It has a black background. I haven't posted anything yet, because it's getting late in the night. So, in the meantime, I need to log some sack time, and I'll start posting when I get up in the morning.
I will be using bright green and bright blue text, on a black background and magenta text for the links.
Yeah! I like my new dark colored blog, because I'm interested in Astronomy.
But, I'll also be taking about Geology, Paleontology, and EVOLUTION, and also, lots of political rants and raves!
The dark background and neon text will give my blog a Night Club sort of feeling. It's gonna be really cool!!!
This will be my Big Fat Science and politics blog!
In the meantime . . . . .
Catch ya later, Gator!!!
Teddy Bear - AKA - The Big Fat Heretic
I am so glad that you are going this! I would like to clone 1000's of like minded people like us. I don't mean just fat I mean those of us who tell the truth about liars the punks and bullies.
ReplyDeleteThe thing we need to do Teddy is promote your blog I will embed a link to your blog right here in the comments section
/ Click Here For The Big Fat Heretic
The link works! Now start adding content.
DeletePROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE
May I suggest that you start with series of short articles with links to similar content. Also posting images bumps you up in the search engines. Currently Bigger Fatter Politics has at least 110 inbound links and that is mostly from others post links to my articles on various sites. I am still getting a shit load of page views of my Boycott Papa Johns article because somebody is promoting it. Maybe it is a true pizza lover like myself or an employee that Papa Johns Pizza fucked over.
A lot of short articles with good tags gets you noticed by search engines. Write to me at my Gmail account and I will clue you in on some SEO techniques that I want to keep hidden from the general public.
Let's do our part to bring truth and logic to the world.
I promote the Amazing Atheist, Pat Condell, Reverend Burn and my favorite free thinker Dusty Smith of the Cult of Dusty. I also promote you.
Good evening Fat Bastardo!
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been working on my first article.
I'm re-posting an Astronomy article from my original blog, but I've added some extra features, like some cute and rather amusing commercial messages for Mars Bars and Jupiter Cupcakes, and I've updated some information concerning the recently discovered Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) or "dwarf planets" out beyond Neptune.
Yeah! Pluto is not considered just a regular planet anymore. It's been reclassified as a Kuiper Belt Object, or dwarf planet.
So, this newer version of the original will have some updates.
It's going to take some time to finish posting my very first article.
I'll let you know when I'm finished.
Catch ya later, Gator!
Teddy Bear AKA Big Fat Heretic
Mars makes great candy. Check out the Galaxy Ripple Bar
DeleteGalaxy Bar
Good evening Fat Bastardo!
DeleteWell, it's taking me a little bit longer than I had planned to finish my newest version of BIG FAT ASTRONOMY.
But, I'm getting toward the end.
I've been adding a lot more details to my new article.
I'll be talking about how astronomers know that the universe is expanding, and I'll include diagrams of the Doppler Red Shift in the spectral lines of distant galaxies moving away from us, with the exception of the Andromeda galaxy, which is moving toward us. So its spectral lines are blue-shifted.
Basically, the last section is about how the universe is growing bigger and fatter, even as we speak.
Tomorrow, on April first, my check comes in. So, I'll be busy shopping, and then in the evening, I'll be doing some more work on my article, and I will post it sometime after midnight on the 2ed of April.
I don't want to post a serous educational article on April Fool's Day, if you know what I mean.
Well, it does have some humor in it, but still, basically, a serious education article.
Also, I took Sunday off, because I spend most of my time on Sundays napping.
But, I feel more wide awake now.
So, catch you later, Gator!
Big Fat Heretic - AKA - Teddy Bear
Feel free to promote you blog here Teddy.
DeleteI am happy to know that the universe if in a sense fat friendly.
The most beautiful planets are the gas giants. Saturn is my favorite.
If you are serious about this Teddy perhaps you could lecture at schools. If as you say you were singled out by the school system for liking science and hating sports this could be an opportunity to get some revenge and pay some of your freight.
ReplyDeleteFat Bastardo has convinced be that you were bullied but I think you are exaggerating. If there was a bullying teacher I doubt if you were the only one bullied. This is why I have doubted your narrative.
I do applaud your efforts to spread science.
Good evening Fat Bastardo!
ReplyDeleteHELP!!! I CAN'T POST A YOUTUBE VIDEO TO MY BLOG!
I get the image, but it won't play!
And it says I need Adobe Flash Player!
But I HAVE Adobe Flash Player!
Well, this is just another example of how other people have have things that I can't have!
I feel like I'm getting my head bashed against the brick wall again!
Big Fat Heretic
Hello again Fat Bastardo!!!
ReplyDeleteNEVER MIND!
It took me a few hours to figure out what went wrong.
I was finally able to get the YouTube video to play on my Preview page.
First, I had downloaded the video from YouTube, to my computer, and uploaded to my blog. But that wouldn't work.
I'm going to upload it to my own YouTube channel, and host it from there, just in case it gets deleted from the other YouTube channel that I had linked to.
That way, I'll have "ownership" of it on my own channel.
But, I'll say in the description who it was originally uploaded by, so that I won't be taking credit for it.
Anyway, wish me luck!
Big Fat Heretic
I find it easier to simply click the movie icon when I am writing a post and then paste the description of the video into the text box that pops up. Then a bunch of videos appear. The I select the video and bingo in appears in my article. That's how I posted Nick Caves Higgs Boson video.
Delete1. Click the video/movie icon you see when you are writing your post.
2. Paste or Type in the description of the video.
3. You can either double click the video or click Add Selected and it will appear instantly in your article. (Blogger goes right to You Tube and finds the video. Essentially you can search Youtube while you are composing your post article.
Keep a cool tool and don't let your meat loaf... OINK!
That's pretty much all there is to it.