There are many scientific misconceptions on how to capture energy without releasing carbon dioxide.
A particular area of confusion is in the science of solar panels. As our technology exists today, it takes more energy to produce a solar panel than it will ever collect in its life time. That's pretty much why many utilities love the idea of having a solar panel on every house. Huge amounts of energy are required to process the silicon and other earth metals in these panels. Currently, the only way to collect solar energy efficiently is to use mirrors, as is done in with Sterling engines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine) or by exploiting Carnot cycles in heat engines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_engine).
Another misconception is that wind energy, as it exists right now, does not require carbon to work. Remember, most windmills are made from poly-carbon material, extremely energy intensive to make and are actually made either from oil, or coal byproducts! Also, most overlook the extreme level of maintenance that these windmills require. Look at any wind company’s expense report (e.g. Gamesa) to see how carbon intensive it is for windmill upkeep.
Even if we were able to exploit these two types of energy to their fullest potential across the planet, in the perfect situation, they would only provide 25% of the energy we currently use. The real question is not how do we use these types of ‘green’ technologies to provide power, rather it is once these technologies are in place, where do we get the other 75%? Biomass and hydroelectricity may give us another 15 – 20%, but do we then have to turn to (gasp) nuclear? Fusion energy is about 50 years off (according to the guys at Berkeley) so where do we store the fission nuclear refuse in the meantime? These scientific caveats are extremely important to consider as we transform our energy sector and are so how missing in the dialog down in Washington.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
A loss for everyone
This is sad news: Clearfield County Waste Coal Plant Project Canceled http://www.wjactv.com/news/22648002/detail.html. With our supervision, this plant would have cleaned up decades of legacy coal waste (http://www.rhcoal.com/Powerplant.asp). Not to mention it was going to be used to study carbon sequestration and syn-fuel production as a means of totally eliminating carbon release. This was not a stereotypical ‘dirt burner’ but a case study of how to transition from coal dependency to fossil fuel independence without disrupting families’ livelihoods and threatening the security of the United States energy supply.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
In Clearfield County, River Hill coal says green mining is not an oxymoron
Call it a mixed marriage. River Hill Coal Company in Clearfield County is creating unlikely partnerships with three renewable energy outfits in western Pennsylvania. Together, they’re hoping to make River Hill’s operations cleaner, more efficient, and cheaper.
River Hill surface mines old sites, producing over 20,000 tons of metallurgical coal each month. The high-quality product is used to melt steel. Company vice president Jacob Handler sought partners than would help his family-owned company find cheaper fuel for its furnaces, a safer method of drying coal, and smarter solutions for remediating old mines.
For the first problem, River Hill will work with Optimus, a Pittsburgh biofuels firm that uses canola and waste oil. River Hill will replace the $2-a-gallon diesel currently used in its furnaces with the recycled 50-cent variety from the Pittsburgh biofuels start-up.
Active methods of removing moisture from coal—including electric heat—pose safety hazards for mining companies. Hanchar says that Epiphany Labs, which has also developed cost-effective clean water technologies, will work with the firm on a solar array to dry coal passively. A standard 10-ton load could be reduced to eight percent moisture levels in a week to ten days.
Finally, River Hill will use technologies developed by Pittsburgh Gtech to remediate mining sites. Planting sunflowers actively removes toxins from the soil, and Hanchar points out another advantage: plant roots soak up water before it leaches underground to cause acid mine runoff. Hanchar says the company will plant 20 acres this spring. It remediates about 150 acres of roughly 1,000 mined acres annually.
Hanchar says the company is fielding calls from interested companies "whose images aren’t pristine.” But he predicts "it will come down to what is economically feasible. After a year, once we’ve done the first round of work , we will be able to market it to the industry a little bit more."
Source: Jacob Hanchar, River Hill
Writer: Chris O’Toole
River Hill surface mines old sites, producing over 20,000 tons of metallurgical coal each month. The high-quality product is used to melt steel. Company vice president Jacob Handler sought partners than would help his family-owned company find cheaper fuel for its furnaces, a safer method of drying coal, and smarter solutions for remediating old mines.
For the first problem, River Hill will work with Optimus, a Pittsburgh biofuels firm that uses canola and waste oil. River Hill will replace the $2-a-gallon diesel currently used in its furnaces with the recycled 50-cent variety from the Pittsburgh biofuels start-up.
Active methods of removing moisture from coal—including electric heat—pose safety hazards for mining companies. Hanchar says that Epiphany Labs, which has also developed cost-effective clean water technologies, will work with the firm on a solar array to dry coal passively. A standard 10-ton load could be reduced to eight percent moisture levels in a week to ten days.
Finally, River Hill will use technologies developed by Pittsburgh Gtech to remediate mining sites. Planting sunflowers actively removes toxins from the soil, and Hanchar points out another advantage: plant roots soak up water before it leaches underground to cause acid mine runoff. Hanchar says the company will plant 20 acres this spring. It remediates about 150 acres of roughly 1,000 mined acres annually.
Hanchar says the company is fielding calls from interested companies "whose images aren’t pristine.” But he predicts "it will come down to what is economically feasible. After a year, once we’ve done the first round of work , we will be able to market it to the industry a little bit more."
Source: Jacob Hanchar, River Hill
Writer: Chris O’Toole
Friday, February 12, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Our Coal Company
We are starting this blogg with a link to our website: www.rhcoal.com. We are the only coal company in the world actively using green energy technology to reduce costs, increase revenue, and reduce carbon emissions. Stay tuned for more stories and updates on our projects and their progress!
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