Letter to the editor:

Coal must be partof energy plan

Joe Lucas, Alexandria, Va.

Fri, Apr 4, 2008 (2:03 a.m.)

Regarding a March 28 editorial in the Las Vegas Sun (“One small step: Nevada Power heads in right direction with investment in geothermal plant”):

Nevada Power should be commended for its decision to help Nevada create a balanced and diverse energy resource portfolio to help meet the state’s growing demand for electricity.

Where the editorial fell way short was incorrectly stating that coal is “yesterday’s energy” and we do not need coal to meet our growing future demand for electricity in a secure and affordable manner.

In fact, coal is the fuel of the future. How? Through technology that allows coal to produce electricity today with about 70 percent less emissions, despite a tripling of its use since 1970.

Today, coal accounts for nearly a quarter of all electricity produced in Nevada. Most people support development of renewable resources, but how are we going to meet growing electricity demand without coal?

Renewable energy alone cannot reliably meet Nevada’s growing energy demand. To keep the lights on day and night, during windy and calm days, Nevada needs base-load electricity generation, and that is best supplied through a mix of available energy resources. This type of generation provides a constant flow of electricity. Renewables, for the most part, provide an intermittent source of electricity, which can be helpful during peak use, but not 24/7.

Technology has helped meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act, and we are working on the technologies that will again help meet and balance energy and environmental needs of the future.

Instead of attempting to stop using our most abundant resource, we need to be supporting progress in making coal cleaner and a viable source of secure and affordable energy.

Discussion: 2 comments so far…

By mschaffer

4/4/08 at 6:25 a.m.

Suggest removal

And when technology becomes available that stops all forms of pollutants from burning coal, allows it to be mined without degrading local environments and safely for all mining workers it should be considered. Until then it must remain yesterday's power source . . . or we will have a catastrophic future.
By Socrates

4/4/08 at 4:10 p.m.

Suggest removal

I do not understand people's love affair with coal. It IS yesterday's energy. In fact, it's ancient energy. It belongs in the ground, permanently.

We get more energy from the sun than we could possibly need. All that is missing is education and political (corporate) will.

Those who embrace coal as a viable energy source must be under the illusion that it will somehow be profitable for them personally. After all, coal is just dirty, black stuff - why else would someone defend it so strongly? Unfortunately, any profit, even for the wealthiest corporations, will be short-lived and foolish in the long term.

mschaffer is right, the real cost of coal goes far beyond air quality issues. We are risking lives and raping our landscape, destroying vast bio-regions of forested mountains and once-beautiful valley streams to get that coal.

But hey, we have to watch American Idol on big plasma screens in air-conditioned comfort for the lowest possible cost, right? Surely we need to pump endless tons of water over phony waterfalls to create Disney-esque illusions of natural beauty. I suppose we think that's better than a real waterfall, on a real mountain, supporting real habitat in some far off place, right?

Oh sure, those people might suffer and lose what they hold dear, including their homes, their health, their land and their lives. But that's their problem I suppose.

COAL: The ultimate folly.