Comments on: Coal Use by US Educational Institutions Down 64% since 2008 https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/ Tue, 30 Aug 2016 16:22:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Brainstorms https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464121 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 16:22:07 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464121 Ferry boats can be electric.

Can’t help but think how ironic it is that dumping the ash in Lake Michigan would offset the effects of acid rain… But given that stopping the acid rain problem is one of the few success stories we’ve got, it’s no longer helpful. (And there are other obvious problems anyway.)

But ferry boats can be electric. Might even be able to simulate the occasional boiler explosion, if people really want to be romantic about the past…

]]> By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464120 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:47:13 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464120 “One word: Electric boats.”

Difficult step: Overcoming the nostalgia expressed by defenders of the ferry when they said “It would be a shame to lose such a romantic link to our past.”

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464119 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:39:01 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464119 One word: Electric boats.

]]> By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464118 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:30:27 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464118 Locally WMU stepped away from coal some time ago
“http://www.wmich.edu/facilities/powerplant/billion”

We still have problems (wasting over $20 million from the general fund yearly, for over a decade and continuing now, to prop up an athletic program that can’t pay for itself is a big issue) but are trying to get better.

Second comment: until 2015 the coal powered ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee was still dumping coal ash from its boilers in Lake Michigan. That’s stopped (although the ferry still runs on coal): the owners spend several million to develop an on-board storage system for the ash: it’s sold (I believe sold) for use in road repair in WI.

]]> By: Brainstorms https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464117 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 14:58:25 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464117 A LOT of that was particulates, and it was eff-in miserable to be in those trains when they went into a tunnel — and you had the windows open.

]]> By: Desertphile https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464116 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 14:53:39 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464116 Yesterday I saw what I thought was a forest fire near Chama, New Mexico, a few miles north. Smoke hung over the highway but it was black, not gray. The smoke was so thick I could not see far down the road, and I thought about turning around to avoid either a fire or crashing into another car. Then I heard the sounds of a steam-driven locomotive engine. Hee. The power unit runs off coal, and it was astonishing to see how much smoke it produced. “Back in the day” these trains must have spewed an astounding amount of pollution in the air, and I can not even imaging what it was like to ride a train when it went into a tunnel.

]]> By: Desertphile https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/08/30/coal-use-by-us-educational-institutions-down-64-since-2008/#comment-464115 Tue, 30 Aug 2016 14:46:51 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=22797#comment-464115 Certainly this is a good start. It may also mean that these institutions are using less fresh water.

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