Coal Plants Spewing Mercury

Internet, I have some questions. 

In particular, I want to know what you all happen to know about coal plants and their cost to our environment?  How much electricity and power they really do provide?  At what cost? 

Did you know there are currently three new plants being planned for construction in Nevada?  And that Salt Lake City is downwind of these three plants?  And that according to the gentleman who I met and heard speak on Saturday that this could quite possibly mean that I'll be inhaling even MORE mercury particulate than I already am?

Did you know that I already was? 

The architect and I attended a Sustainable Living Fair this past weekend.  We heard a lot of very interesting speakers and met a lot of wonderfully interesting people. 

But most importantly, I think I have a very new and important cause.

So, tell me what you know, Internet.  About those coal plants.  Because I'm very concerned!

So many of you have responded in such lovely ways about this question!  Thank you. 

Paul, I will assure you that I will never give up my primary cause of encouraging all humans to love their bodies!  Absolutely not.  Let's remember that it is one of my most heartfelt beliefs that if we all loved ourselves just a little bit more there would be less hatred and violence in this world.  That loving ourselves, just as we are, naked and whole, is one of the best gifts we can give!

However, this whole business of coal plants is something quite new to me and learning on Sunday that there are THREE new ones planned for Nevada and what it will do to the already rather poor air quality of Salt Lake City has me quite concerned.

I'm not sure how much longer I'm actually going to be living here, but I want to be able to breathe while I do.  Let's remember that I'm planning to live to be 136, at least, and I can't do that if I can't breathe to my full capacity.

One of my readers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland sent me all kinds of good information including some information about Robert Kennedy Jr.  He's very concerned about these plants because the mercury is actually finding its way into our food stream.  Gah. 

People, we're poisoning ourselves and we have ALTERNATIVES. 

Let's use them.  Why must we continue to use toxic fuel sources when we know that we have other options? 

This is my bigger question.  Are we that hell bent on killing ourselves, our planet and our future? 

Well, are we???

Comments

[NakedSteve]

I heard once (damn, now I'm gonna have to find out where) that coal plants actually release more radioactive contaminants into the air than nuclear plants do, in the form of soot particles containing naturally occurring radioactive carbon. (No claim made to other radioactive waste, however!)

[Harl Delos]

Jen, I kinda liked your *old* cause, where you made women feel good about themselves. I hate to see you riding off in all directions at once.

As far as information goes, it's pretty easy for coal plants to release more radioactivity to the air than nuclear plants - fossil fuel plants work on the gaseous combustion products of burning coal, while nuclear plants simply turn water into steam, and they keep their fuel 100% contained.

And if we recycled their spent fuel, nukes wouldn't generate much nuclear waste - the biggest volume of nuclear waste apparently comes from hospital radiology, anyway.

We should be mining coal for *chemical* uses. Anything you can make out of oil, plastics, nylons, etc., you can make out of coal.

As much as possible, we should be using nuclear power, because it's the cleanest, safest, cheapest energy we have. However, it's not very easy to ramp up and down, meaning it's only good for baseline use, and we still to burn other fuels for peak use.

Hydrogen would work OK for power plants. Generate it from nuclear energy when electrical demand is low, burn it to make electricity when demand is high. Weight doesn't matter with stationary tanks; they can be big and study. Hydrogen isn't very practical for transportation, though.

The Germans used coal to make fuel for cars and trucks in the 1930s and 1940s. At current prices for oil, maybe it'd make sense to do that here and now.

[ronfortoby]

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update42.htm
Found by google " mercury particulate +coal "
Nuclear is ok, problem is getting rid of the waste hot, contaminated water and spent fuel (still lethal for thousands of years.)
End of that comment.
More interesting, " The architect and I ... ~ " plus
a week of non-posting. We will get some excuse about working too hard, or long, if anything.