Coal Plants Are Victims of Their Own Economics

Summary:

In the last presidential election it was debated that Obama’s administration and his Environmental Protection Agency would put a grid lock on the growth of coal companies. However, due to recent research it turns out the case for the lack of growth in the coal companies is due to the companies themselves. Due to a detailed analysis of coal plant finances and economics, coal is losing its battle with other power sources mostly on its merits. Even though coal has been the leading source for electricity in the United States it has dropped from 50% to 38% in the last 6 years. Plans for more than 150 new coal-fired power plants have been canceled since the mid-2000s, plants that already exist are being shut down, and only one new coal-fired power plant went online in the United Stated in 2012. David Schlissel, an energy economist and founder of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, decided to investigate the reasons for the decline. He took a look at the economics of the industry and the detailed finances of individual power plants. Schlissel and his team found several reasons for coal’s decline. He says that construction costs have risen sharply in the past decade. The cost of natural gas has plummeted since the mid-2000s and if coal-power fired power has to compete with natural gas on its economic merits then it struggles. In 2006 there was an electric generating plant in Mississippi that had two coal-fired generators and two natural-gas-powered generators. The coal-fired generators produced 80% of the power which is where the plant got most of its power. While the two natural-gas-fired generators produced just 30% of the power they were capable of. By 2012, those percentages were reversed: the coal generators produced just 25%, while the natural-gas generators produced 84%. These trends indicate that the company profited by burning natural gas more and coal less. Another reason coal is struggling is because many power plants that burn it are aging to the point that more parts break and it is becoming very expensive to maintain says Schlissel. Sixty percent of the nation’s coal plants are more than 40 years old and the retiring age of coal plants is 53 years. It’s hard to justify installing expensive scrubbers to plants that aren’t going to produce electricity for long. The cost for shipping coal by train, barge and truck are large and rising, which adds significantly to the fuel’s cost. Lastly utilities have incentives to move to natural gas if they can.

Correlation:

In class we have been speaking about other alternative fuels and coming up with new ways to get power. This really emphasizes the need for new forms of energy. It also shows that coal is on the up and out which means working towards a new form of energy is going to become a big project here in the near future.

Personal Reaction:

This article made me a little happy because it puts the pressure on scientists to come up with new forms of energy and quickly. Coal is no longer a viable source because it is becoming too expensive to keep it around.        

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/02/coal-plants-are-victims-of-their.html?ref=hp

Yellowstone Wolves Need Help from Beaver

Summary:

The wolves of Yellowstone Nation Park had almost vanished completely over a century ago. Now, 18 years after their return, the wolves are often credited for restoring the ecological balance of one of America’s wildest landscapes. However, new studies might suggest that the wolves can’t turn the ecological clock back completely – at least not without help from the beaver. The research focuses on riparian, or streamside, habitats in Yellowstone’s northern range. About 25 to 30 wolves now live in the northern range, but the area is still largely lacking beavers that had once populated its small streams. This is because of an elk population boom – a consequence of the extermination of wolves. This left beavers deprived of the willow trees they need for food and construction material. The elks are eating the willows which leave the beavers to starve and die out. The willows also depend on the beavers because the dams that the beavers build create mud flats where new willows can sprouts; they also raise the water table, supplying more water to willow roots. When the wolves vanished, the willows of the northern range faced a double whammy: too many elk, too few beaver. The result was a scarcity of the willow patches needed for a healthy riparian zone. To determine if the wolves could rescue the willow trees, Kristin Marshall, a PH.D. student at Colorado State University, charted willow growth at four sites in the northern range. At the sites they fenced in some plots to provide total protections from browsing elk. They also built dams. After 10 years, the willows that were fenced in and suffered no browsing at all were far shorter than 2 meters, which is the threshold height that makes willows tall enough to reproduce. The willows along the dam didn’t make the threshold either. Other researchers claim that the system just needs more time to bounce back. Recovery of an ecosystem that is heavily damaged takes time.

Correlation:

                This type of research will enable us to determine if it’s possible to fix the damage we have done to ecosystems or if our damage is permanent. This could lead to big discoveries in the cause and effect of wild life on each other and humans on wild life. This will definitely make you think twice before doing something in nature because it seems one little change could affect more than just one thing.

Personal Reaction:

                I choose this article because I have complained many times about a certain bug or insect and wishing that it would just go extinct. I have never actually thought about the consequences that would have on other forms of life in nature. Even the most disgusting animals serve a purpose. It is just hard to imagine one small thing affecting so many other creatures, but if a wolf and a beaver need each other to survive I guess it’s not so hard to believe.  

Website:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/02/yellowstone-wolves-need-help-fro.html?ref=hp

Rumpelstiltskin Molecule Spins Toxic Ions into Gold Nuggets

Summary:     
          Mr. Fritz Haber won the 1918 Nobel Prize in chemistry for inventing the process for converting the ultra-stable form of nitrogen in the air to the more reactive chemical form required to make fertilizer. He then spent a good chuck of the rest of his career trying to do the opposite chemical trick: pulling reactive gold ions out of seawater and converting them to the more stable form found in gold nuggets, bars, and bullion. However, he was unsuccessful. But Delftia acidovorans has succeeded where Haber failed. The gold-loving microbe manufactures and secretes delftibactin, which forces gold ions to precipitate out of solution. As the bacterica carry out this job, they not only remove highly toxic gold ions from their surroundings, but they also create the neutrally charged gold nuggets on which it then makes a home. Delftibactin has been isolated for the first time and scientist are hopefully in trying to harvest gold from the ocean. However, there is a problem. Delftibactin also carries out the same trick with iron ions, so if the scientists try it on a large scale they might get lumps of iron instead.
Correlation:

                If scientist are able to do this then it could help bring more currency into the world. The more gold we have backing money than the more we can produce. This could really help out the United States and it would also help out the countries we support. If we have more currency than we will be able to send more support to the countries that need it from us. This would also help to pay off our debts to China so that our children aren’t the ones left with cleaning up the mess we made.

Personal Reaction:

I choose this article because not having enough money is a problem that everyone faces at some point in their lives. I recently just had an experience where having a gold nugget would have really benefited me greatly. So I found this article very interesting because I didn’t even know something like this was possible! Hopefully it works!  

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/02/scienceshot-rumpelstiltskin-mole.html