Comments on: From the Belly of the Beast http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/05/15/from-the-belly-of-the-beast/ Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement Sun, 06 May 2012 08:12:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Dynegy Cancels Investment in Six Coal Burning Power Plants « It’s Getting Hot In Here http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/05/15/from-the-belly-of-the-beast/#comment-70202 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:15:48 +0000 http://itsgettinghotinhere.wordpress.com/?p=4739#comment-70202 [...] activists a massive protest engulfed Dynegy’s annual meeting in Houston last May.  There, inside the shareholder meeting, investors warned about the massive cost of carbon regulation to the company and activists raised [...]

]]> By: Lynn Roshwalb http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/05/15/from-the-belly-of-the-beast/#comment-64164 Fri, 23 May 2008 16:52:48 +0000 http://itsgettinghotinhere.wordpress.com/?p=4739#comment-64164 Dear Yochi,
You should be incredibly proud of yourself, and everyone who knows you is just as proud.

Renewable energy sources, and alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy ARE the keys to a clean future world for our children, as well as independence from the oil producing nations.

And as I sit here driving my Honda Accord Hybrid, which is supposed to be energy efficient, but isn’t particularly, I’m still glad I bought the car to show support for the technology, and hope they improve it in the future.

I’m so glad you are speaking out to the “powers that be”. You are quite eloquent and thorough in your treatment of the topic. We couldn’t find anyone better suited for the job.

Take care, and keep up the good work.
Lynn

]]> By: Bob grush http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/05/15/from-the-belly-of-the-beast/#comment-63927 Sat, 17 May 2008 21:32:32 +0000 http://itsgettinghotinhere.wordpress.com/?p=4739#comment-63927 Coal plays a huge role in the USA economy and I do not see that changing anytime soon. Technology to convert coal into electricity will continue to improve and this improvement will result in the amount of pollution decreasing. The latest round of environmental improvements to Dynegy’s coal fleet makes them much cleaner than they were 10 years ago. The problem with environmental upgrades are that for NOW, they are not cost effective on smaller coal plants. What is needed is new cleaner burning base load facilities to replace the smaller coal plants that will not be upgraded. This can be achieved in several different ways.

1. New power lines that lose less electricity as it moves from one point to another (Dynegy does not own power lines)

2. Solar power mounted on buildings that have the capacity to take that building off the grid during the day and put it back on the grid at night. This allows for fixed cost during the day (higher but fixed on average) which is the higher cost period for buying power off of the grid.

3. For coal plants, upgrades to “controls” that allow cleaner burning of the fuel in boiler

4. boiler replacement

So far, solar technology (storage) has not advanced far enough for it to replace power plants that can supply power 24/7 (base load). So when I see people saying coal should be shut down and replaced by solar, it makes no sense. Solar has a growing role, but until it can become a base load supply, coal, nuclear, and natgas will fill that role.

As for DYN not investing in alt energy….Dynegy would love to invest in any power facility that would produce a profit. Dynegy is a power producer; they do not have a customer base. In other words, they are not a utility. A utility will get repaid for its investments by the customer base; Dynegy gets repaid when a utility buys power from them. Because of this difference, companies like AEE, TXU, and EXC (which are utilities) become the best place for alt energy investments. Power producers like DYN, NRG, MIR, and CPN (which are NOT utilities) must have contracts from utilities to justify any major investment. If a non-utility does not have a PPA (contract to sell power) and goes ahead and builds a solar facility based on “hope a customer will come”, they will make the same mistake that happened between 1998 and 2004 where the above power producers crashed because of over investment in natgas plants that had no contracts.

bob grush

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