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To: yard_man who wrote (102442)	5/16/2001 9:12:15 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (3) of 436258

tippet--You stated, "you are second-guessing the public's choices." At least I have some better data than most. I think you will find that coal is used for less than 50% of electrical generation, unless you are looking only at base load generation. Low sulfur coal is mined mostly in the West and used mostly in that region. In the East, there are still many plants using higher sulphur content coal, some with scrubbers, and some with not enough scrubbers or pollution controls, as they are grandfathered in. The processes that have been worked on for the past 30 years to make coal really clean are too expensive to be economical. As to alternatives, the cost of solar photovoltaic has dropped considerably, due mainly to the patented technology developed by AstroPower, where the photovoltaic material can now be manufactured in sheets. Improved designs for wind power have also reduced its cost to the point where both these alternative technologies are competitive when electric rates from conventional centralized plants reach about $0.18/kwh. We are getting close to that in many parts of the nation, and California will pay higher than that. The simple truth is that coal and other traditional fossil fuels look less inviting now than they did even 10 years ago. A system of individual generating units designed for residential or small commercial applications can provide for both base and peak loads. Large numbers of individual units can improve the reliability of a system because it is less likely the total system will fail at any one period in time. Less dependence on fossil fuel will also have long term benefits in terms of impacts on global warming and too rapid depletion of scarce fossil fuel resources. The traditionalists who favor coal, oil, and natural gas, or who think nuclear is just great have a mindset that is about 50 years behind the times. They're entitled to their opinions, but they should not be in a position to dictate today's energy policy. Art

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