Coal is terrible in terms of load following. What are you even talking about? If anything, coal plants are economically unsustainable. They don't respond to short term changes in electricity prices and therefore still produce electricity even when they are losing money.
You didn't get what i mean. Rephrased: Use every available energy to shut off coal plants instead of using that energy to supply an additional facility like this.
Also, why are these coal powered plants? That is a worst case scenario and not representative of the actual power grids in most locations. Seems design to scare rather than inform.
Almost all power is generated by heating water into steam, which can still be done by burning almost anything. It won't be very efficient, but you can do it - so traveling to the nearest coal mine/plant may be an effective energy source.
You have completely missed the point. Sorry. I am talking about fact, that coal plant is running 24/7 because it can't be easily switched on/off, which is important for countries like Germany which are using fossil plants as a backup for intermittent renewables. Try to read whole thread.
The entire world could easily be on 100% renewable by 2060.
The average lifetime of a coal fired power plant is 40 years so if we don't build another one the last one built will expire around then. In the meantime every time new capacity is needed or an existing coal power plant needs to be decommissioned replace it with solar/wind/solar thermal/nuclear/pumped hyrdo/geothermal/a battery system/wave generator/whatever.
Today, with all subsidies removed, and all externalities included, coal is already not an economically competitive source of electricity, governments need to stop propping it up and just let it die.
Go to one and watch the endless trains of coal arriving constantly to power the thing, then come back and rethink what you just posted.
reply