I'm fairly comfortable saying that if you are going to mine coal (with the CO2 implications and all), the PRB is one of, if not the best, place in the world to do it.
The coal is pretty clean other than carbon (we mine there ~bc of the Clean Air Act), remediation is relatively easy (very thick shallow seams in flat, dryish land), and bc mining started with the advent of the environmental movement, things proceeded with that regulatory context.
The mines are *huge.* Like, miles across. Like, there's a separate town basically for workers at the southern end, and workers use something that looks a lot like the Google buses from SF to Mountain View to travel the distance.
The mines are also deeply embedded in US coal use. In class the other day I satellite image field tripped my class between the giant coal plant south of us here in Georgia to some of its source mines, in the PRB.
(For laughs, and directness, bike directions:)
So the fact that people are talking about closing some of these mines (partly due to a busted JV, partly due to winds of change, partly due to the fact that the current owners are pretty competent and see what's coming) is a *big* deal.
I was musing last week about how we square the circle of assuming the ngas system will be around to supply rarely-used turbines under deep decarbonization, and whether we'll see extraction retirements drive plant retirements.
I'm not up on the immediate buzz around the PRB but closing PRB mines is one of those things that might drive plant retirements. It works both ways, of course -- but you don't keep a 10-mile-across mine open to feed a couple plants.
Little known fact: not all coal plants can burn all coal, just like not all refineries can refine all oil. So although plants could shift to other PRB suppliers, they can't easily shift to non-PRB suppliers.
All of this is fascinating to me because coal really is (forgive this) the canary in the coal mine of decarbonization.
So far: we see environmental and labor liability discharge; no-notice layoffs; huge remediation burdens; and increasingly less competent operators taking over assets with big potential socioenvironmental impact.
The coal industry is tiny compared to the rest of the fossil industry. We need to be extraordinarily thoughtful about what we can learn from coal transition issues to date, to plan and better manage this transition.
Lots of lessons here for other industries -- coal *is* different, but it's not /that/ different.
Planning, announcements, glide paths, explicit naming of the places and facilities that need to close, etc. -- all these can help with a #JustTransition.
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Managing stormwater is a huge challenge, and climate change isn't making it any easier. If you've ever been to a wastewater plant, you've probably heard about some of the bonkers challenges that excess stormwater can cause.
In today's edn of "You did what in Excel??": new tool!
Just got notification that our first paper on the cost model we built for @iDST_Team was accepted, so I wanted to do a little thread on the model.
Basic point: distributed stormwater infrastructure (like swales) can help a lot. But it's really hard to tell how much it costs.
Big issue: people can be hesitant to commit to infra like bioswales, raingardens, and porous pavements if they don't have a good idea of how it will perform.
Doubly true when 1) using public money for 2) safety-critical infrastructure that 3) replaces something they understand
As a Californian who now lives in a state that doesn't have an RPS, I share the rage about slow climate action, + questions about what it means to move faster.
Contribution for now: new paper + model of CA utility-specific committed emissions to 2050.
What we find: CA's targets are reasonable. A 2045 decarbonization deadline doesn't strand much infrastructure -- just letting plants retire at the end of their typical lifespans essentially results in full decarbonization by 2047, assuming you don't build more FF plants.
2020: T-Point 2. A not-yet-online fossil demonstration.
Quote: "It requires a lot of engineering to ensure a natural gas-fired combustion turbine will operate reliably //and last for decades// without major component failure."
Cool, cool, yes, innovating fossil fuels in 2020.
2019: the Egypt Megaproject. 14.4 GW of fossil capacity.
Sure. People need power, it's pretty efficient...being like "oh hey this was awesome because Siemens got a big contract" is a little :/
~THERE WILL BE BLOOD~ Netflix watchalong begins in 30 minutes -- push play and join us at the Historians at the Movies theater, run by the capable @HerbertHistory ! Hashtag: #HATM
Kicking us off: this is a movie about oil (and much more). Here are some oil facts:
DYK: Oil still provides more of the world's commercial* primary energy resources than any other fuel.
*Commercial meaning: I'm not counting the fact that the sun grows plants, heats our homes, lights our days, etc. unless it's turned into a saleable product first
Today is the delayed #GeorgiaPrimary and George Floyd's funeral. We keep hearing that voting is the answer, but #VoterSuppression is intensely real.
I've hesitated to tell this story but have been told it might be useful precisely bc I'm a privileged white person, so here goes:
The long and short of it: in 2018, my white husband was falsely recorded as Black in the system. I watched him fill out the form, at a voting drive in a Black neighborhood. He did not incorrectly mark his race.
He was unable to vote that year.
We had to vote early due to some travel. The system now shows his reg date as ~2 weeks before we went to vote early. That day, though, he wasn't in the system and wasn't able to vote.