Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Billion kilowatt hours and percent shares
History
Projections
6,000
5,000
17.0
Renewable
4,000
9.1
20.8
Natural gas
21.4
3,000
2,000
Coal
43.8
48.5
Oil and other
1.4
1.5
1,000
Nuclear
19.6
17.1
0
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
2035
Figure 6.8
Predicted sources of electricity to 2030 (Energy Information Administration, 2009).
However, according to the Department of Energy the rapid increase
in natural gas prices and in the volume of imports in recent years will
soon cause a return to coal-burning plants (fi gure 6.8). Energy demand
in the United States is growing at about 1.2 percent a year, and utilities
must get energy from somewhere.
37
It is not clear that alternative and
renewable sources such as cellulosic biofuel, wind, solar, nuclear, and
geothermal can be brought online fast enough with enough generating
power to accommodate this growth.
Environmental Cost of Coal
In order to promote the use of coal as an energy source, General Electric
in 2006 started its “ecomagination” advertising campaign touting its
new “clean coal” technology. One ad featured attractive scantily clad
models (male and female) shoveling coal in a dark mine while Tennessee
Ernie Ford's version of “16 Tons,” played on the soundtrack. Near the
end of the ad, a voice announced, “Harnessing the power of coal is
looking more beautiful every day.” The healthy and attractive models in
the ad were not among the 23,600 Americans who die prematurely each
year from black lung disease or from power plant pollution, most of it
generated from burning coal (
table 6.8).
When the Clean Air Act was passed in the 1970s, it included a grand-
father clause that allowed older power plants to avoid meeting the
modern pollution control standards that new facilities had to adapt. It
