Collegiate Times

I hope after I graduate VT triples tuition rates so it can install solar panels on all the buildings and wind mills in the drill field. but let's wait until next year for that

So here is a nice statistic for you, CO2 accounts for about 3% of Greenhouse gasses, so what your telling me is that 30% of that is from coal plants and we have added the huge amount of 0.3% of greenhouse gasses to our atmosphere? OMG run for the hills and triple our energy prices the evil coal is destroying the earth! If you want to pay more for energy you go right ahead.

Go ahead, believe what industry tells you.

Meanwhile, we need to get off of coal ASAP and I applaud the SC and VT students for taking this issue into their own hands.

Its 2009, and were still burning a dirty black rock from the ground for most of our energy in Virgina-a dirty black rock known to cause more cancer, respiratory disease, global warming, and environmental devastation than other readily available energy sources. Since when did we permanently resign ourselves to the same polluting energy source that led us into the industrial revolution 150 YEARS AGO? Let's STOP blowing up our mountains and let universities like Virginia Tech move our country forward towards a clean energy future with innovation and ingenuity.

Who's going to pay for it? If you want to foot the bill fine but the rest of us do not. Coal is vital to our energy demands and will continue to be a key part of our energy production as oil is drying up. We would all like those pie in the sky energy producers but we can't afford them now.

Given our current financial problems at the university, not to mention the country (which I know your messiah Mr. Obama is working night and day to fix), we cannot afford to take care of your "green" energy right now. I agree alternative sources a good idea, but they are entirely too expensive right now. As far as I'm concerned there are more important issues we need to address first. And when you get lung cancer from the coal pile over there you let me know.

"Coal is vital to our energy demands and will continue to be a key part of our energy production as oil is drying up."

Well that's an industry talking point if I ever heard one. Let's be a little creative here and look beyond dirty, polluting and toxic fossil fuels to energy that is cleaner and that we can generate more sustainably. It's not a left or right thing. No matter who you voted for in 2008 we're still breathing the air filled with particulate matter (linked by the American Lung Association to heart attacks and asthma) and drinking the water polluted by the neurotoxin mercury (1 in 6 American women of childbearing age have more mercury in their bloodstream than is safe to carry a child - and coal-fire power plants are the leading cause of mercury pollution.

Coal is dangerous. It's causing global warming to a greater extent than any other CO2 emitting source and that's what the scientific community (read: people with PH.Ds and more evidence that you coal-industry talking heads) has been saying for the past decade.

"We would all like those pie in the sky energy producers but we can't afford them now."

Again, good job sticking to coal industry talking points. As usual, it's completely false. The cost of coal is a non-issue - the pollution has already been externalized to the general public in millions of dollars worth of health-care costs and unspeakable human costs(ask the people at coal river mountain if they liked their mountain home before it was blown up). coal is already getting more expensive to mine. After November with a price on carbon it will become more expensive to burn coal (burning 1 ton of coal releases 3 tons of CO2).

So it's really not an issue of how much (the cost of dealing with what we have now only gets higher the longer we wait) but an issue of when we'll have the courage and the sense to do what we know is right and cost-effective in the long-term - which is the only view that won't screw us over - health and cost-wise - in the next 5 years.

Coal's way to dirty! Let's get off of it and create a cleaner, healthier future. Now that's something for VT to be proud of doing!

What could be more important the saving the planet? Is this what our society has come to? You say too expensive while completely ignoring all of the external costs of coal plants .. 24,000 deaths per year, 160 billion in health care costs, the list goes on.
The cost of renewables are steadily decreasing while the cost of coal is on the rise (especially with all of the recent victories with MTR and increased concern about coal ash). What are you going to do when your internal cost arguments are no longer valid and there is no renewable infrastructure?? The time is coming sooner than you think!

I commend the VT Beyond Coal students for being forward thinkers. It takes guts to work for positive change but that's why our country is great.

Pie in the sky? Hardly would I consider "$155 billion invested in clean energy companies and projects worldwide, not including large hydro" just in 2008 a dreamers movement. And whats more vital - money in a few peoples pockets? (& probably not yours might I add) - or clean air? clean water? four to tenfold the amount of good jobs available in our failing economy? can you really be so short sided - so addicted to dirty obsolete energy - that you can't see that coal is a fix that's not only debilitating ALL of our systems (environmental and yes economic included) - but its harming you, its harming me, your mother, your children, your dinner.

Consider this your intervention. If you don't end that coal addiction right now, its going to end us all.

man, people just throw numbers and statistics out there like they are true. I agree that a cleaner form of energy would be great. I don't know a single person that would rather have a coal plant powering the city instead of solar energy if they could. Maybe somebody sitting on a pile of coal but that's about it. It just takes time to figure all this stuff out. In the meantime, you don't need to lie to prove your point. That just makes you look like a dishonest fool.

It's not that I'm against new forms of energy I don't want to pay more for them. If you could provide power with solar and wind as cheaply and reliably as coal than I would be for it. In this economy especially we can't be burdened with expensive energy costs. Coal is abundant and cheap if we switched over too soon we would lose jobs because of firms paying more for energy. The earth is alot stronger than you give credit it's not going to matter if we continue to use coal for a little while longer.

the free market will determine when we switch

When Kennedy set the goal of getting a man to the moon by the end of the 1960s there was resistance. There were people who thought this was crazy, or a fool's adventure or just impossible.

History doesn't remember those people. History remembers those who in the face of great adversity dared to dream and dared to do because they knew it was right. At this moment in time we are facing catastrophe if we fail to act. Mobilizing to transition our economy from fossil fuels that poison our water and our air is the greatest achievement we can hope to achieve in the next decade. If we don't, then all life on the planet is imperiled.

And that's a fact!

It takes a lot to rise above fear and dream with high expectations. I fully support the VT students who have dared to dream. Those are profiles in courage.

Can you provide a specific source that indicates that coal power plants contribute the most to CO2 emissions?

Alex,

Why are you afraid of "global sea level rise"? Are you so self-righteous as to think that you know the optimum sea level for all life on this planet? Another 300 ft and I am right on the beach. Can't wait.

that might make sense if we were a true free market, but as it is the costs are being externalized to all of us in the form of health care costs and environmental clean up.
Not to mention the subsidies and assistance the government has given to prop up the coal industry.

drama indeed. I've never seen somebody take such bold action and dared to dare against such odds with other people's money.

Probably not money out of our pocket??? Bull!!! Everyone moans and groans about their electric bill when AEP raises rates. Whats going to happen if they have to invest billions in windmills and solar panels?? CONSUMERS will feel the effects, just like if the energy cap and trade was passed.

All statistics and studies are crap and should never be used in reasonable arguement.

Think about it, I have a political agenda that will get me 3 million extra votes if I pass an bill that limits the amount of fat that burgers can have. To get this bill passed I need a statistic that says that burgers contain too much fat. I take 2 million dollars to invest in a research study of burger fat. Amazingly the study returns that burgers have fat and when people eat them they become fat, and amazingly the fat people have health problems and OMG make the connection its all the burgers fault I get my 3 million votes.

See studies garner the results of those who pay for the answers. If a scientist returns a result that goes against the agenda those results will never be seen by the public, get it its easy?

So apply that to your wonderful lung cancer studies, are you surprised that particles in the air cause lung cancer? No of course not but how many cases are a DIRECT result of Coal that can be proven? Maybe the person smokes or any other number of things that could be potential problems but because somebody wanted new energy sources it is ALL coals fault, as studies have shown.

Simple really. We need to rid ourselves of coal but using studies and research to back up claims is not the way to make your point.

I want to see three links here

1- Coal is leading CO2 producer
2- Coal is leading mercury polluter
3- Coal has a 1 to 3 CO2 emmision ratio

And i'll say this, show me REAL data and NUMBERS with process. I don't want some 3 page article that is filled with words that has one sentance that says, "These new studies have linked coal to CO2 pollution" or "Studies have shown that Coal is the leading producer of ..."

Show me something that says, "In a study done by taking readings off of 100+coal plants, the average particle make up is ____ and this shows that compared to ### from animal farms and ### from car pollution, coal is the leading emmiter of CO2."

I doubt much more then a link for the burn ratio will come up, and maybe links for the others from one plant or a worse case scenario, "Well this coal plant in WV burst and dumped tons of mercury into water, SEE COAL IS BAD!!"

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Thanks Alex but I was more on issue with the commenters then your article, but I am seeking info out of curiosity anyway so thank you!

Man they need an edit button, I clicked the submit on accident wanted to add more to that.

I was aondering if there is any more recent data? The CO2 emissions probably hasn't changed much, probably a larger percentage with autombiles become more eco-friendly, but 2002 was a long time ago in terms of coal plant tech.

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The data can be manipulated anyway you want it. When in was in Blacksburg 20 years ago all the talk was about the ozone layer. You don't hear anything about it anymore. Why? Because all of the hysteria was based on the fact that ozone filtered more UV rays than di-atomic oxygen. That is true on a molecular level. But the UV filtering effect of oxygen is an atomic phenomenon. It doesn't mater what form the oxygen is in as long as you have the same number of atoms you get the same filter effect.

The fastest way to stop global warming is to burn all of the fossil fuel we have left as fast as we can. As the earth warms only the winters will get warmer and that will actually reduce the use of fossil fuels. Plus, when it is all gone, we can stop arguing about it.

Everyone who is against coal is a racist!

It is obvious that you don't like coal just because it is black! Stop this insanity!


See I can make silly arguments too.

haha man, I'm old enough to remember all the ozone layer madness. The hole is getting bigger! those were the days

That might be the best post I've ever read on the CT. Of course, it comes from Dr. House (funny tv actor) so I am not surprised.
Nothing silly about it. It's all in the subconscious my friend. We're so racist we don't even realize it. Think- we wouldn't burn sugar at the rate we burn coal right?

Here it Texas, we've made great advances in wind power, to the point of becoming the largest producer of any state. There's a simple, irrefutable, and often ignored fact about wind (and solar). For every kW of wind power demand, there has to be a kW of supply from something else backing it up. When the wind stops blowing, demand does not stop.

The only near-term solution to get away from fossil fuels is nuclear energy. Despite all the hysteria, it's clean, safe, and affordable. Chernobyl was a disaster caused by recklessness, lousy design and a crumbling nation. Three Mile Island never released any radioactive material into the environment, despite all the hysteria. Like it or not, nuclear is the only way to provide sufficient, reliable power that can replace fossil fuels.