On Wind Farms and Carbon Trading
Wind Farm, originally uploaded by natmeister
There are two interesting articles in today's New York Times entitled, It's Free, Plentiful and Fickle, which brings a pretty balanced view of wind gathered energy:
Engineers have cut the price of electricity derived from wind by about 80 percent in the last 20 years, setting up this renewable technology for a major share of the electricity market. But for all its promise, wind also generates a big problem: because it is unpredictable and often fails to blow when electricity is most needed, wind is not reliable enough to assure supplies for an electric grid that must be prepared to deliver power to everybody who wants it — even when it is in greatest demand.
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Without major advances in ways to store large quantities of electricity or big changes in the way regional power grids are organized, wind may run up against its practical limits sooner than expected.
And an article about carbon credits entitled, U.S. Companies Explore Ways to Profit From Trading Credits to Emit Carbon:
While the trading of credits to emit carbon is under way in bits and pieces and California has moved to cap its production of greenhouse gases, no one expects nationally imposed limits to go into effect in the United States soon. Most experts see 2010 as the earliest possible date.
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For now, trading in the United States is voluntary: 225 companies that have made promises to reduce greenhouse gases by 6 percent by 2010 are trading carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. Prices for the credits started around 90 cents per ton of carbon when the exchange was established in 2002; they now trade around $4.Most experts said trading would pick up in California, which has passed greenhouse gas rules (they are being challenged in court), and in the Northeast, where a coalition of states are following California’s lead. But once national rules pass, as many experts predict, the market is expected to explode.
Prediction: carbon trading is going to be huge; especially when the US gets on board. Many corporations are already on the bandwagon, and this is a good thing.
Ekibastuz - Open Pit Coal Mine, originally uploaded by herwigphoto.com
But the most asinine item came from the Wind Farm article; it contained this gem of astute reporting:
Coal being loaded near Fairfield, Tex. Electricity from coal is cheaper than from wind if the environmental and health costs are not factored in.
This is like saying that water contaminated with mercury or lead is drinkable, if the environmental and health costs are not factored in.
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This is the permanent home of On Wind Farms and Carbon Trading. I wrote this post at 14:54 on December 28, 2006. This post is part of grubbykid.com, a weblog. If you liked this entry, why don't you read some other posts such as Scans of the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual from 1970 or International Typographic Style 7? Or you could go to the site archives or return home. All are good choices.
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