Interesting Links for 03-11-2017
Nov. 3rd, 2017 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- World's most expensive dram of Scotch was a fake
- (tags: scotland alcohol fraud )
- MSE tells MPs of need for urgent reform to ombudsman ‘farce’
- (tags: uk regulation fail )
- More details on the Northern Ireland poll which showed young people would join a United Ireland
- (tags: NorthernIreland ireland polls )
- Lessons from Finland on Universal Basic Income
- (tags: finland GuaranteedIncome )
- Labour MP: Corbyn was “absolutely clear” in a meeting with Eurosceptic Labour MPs that we’re leaving the EU single market and customs union
- (tags: Europe Labour uk )
- Poorly drawn cats
- (tags: cats fail art funny twitter )
- ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director Taika Waititi Confirms ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Sequel
- (tags: movies marvel vampires funny )
- Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining
- (tags: training politics coal OhForFucksSake )
- What are Scotland's income tax options?
- (tags: tax scotland )
- Absentee Dads affect how women interpret interest from men
- (tags: parenting father sex women psychology )
- Childhood spankings can lead to adult mental health problems
- (tags: violence children mentalhealth depression )
- Strava's Global Heatmap is really impressive
- (tags: exercise bicycles maps visualisation )
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Re: Coal
Date: 2017-11-04 10:07 pm (UTC)Coal is mined predominantly in two regions-- Appalachia and the Powder River basin area in the mid-West. Roughly half of the annual output comes from each region but the mid-West does that with only ten thousand workers and heavy automation. Appalachia mostly does mountaintop removal to get at the coal reserves there, more labour intensive and thus more expensive. There are several hundred years of proven coal reserves safe within the borders of the US at that rate of consumption and it's cheap energy, a production cost of ten dollars a tonne at the minehead in South Dakota. That's why coal will not die.
Re: Coal
Date: 2017-11-06 10:59 am (UTC)I don't see many new ones opening. I think the best the US coal mining industry can expect is roughly speaking a steady state coupled with persisent pressure on labour efficiency coupled with opportunities to automate processes using robots.
My personal expectation is that in about ten years time the combination of solar PV, CCGT and fracking and battery storage is going to make life economically difficult for existing coal generators leading to a steady decline in US demand for coal.
But the best case for US coal jobs is that there will probably be fewer of them in 2027 than there are 2017.
And there are real risk of being on the wrong side of a very rapid shift in the economics of electricity generation.
If one is 50 and already working in coal getting extra training in coal extraction might make sense. If you are 21 and not already a coal miner - well I would advice any son of mine to train up in something else.
Re: Coal
Date: 2017-11-06 11:06 am (UTC)Am I missing something?
Re: Coal
Date: 2017-11-06 11:20 am (UTC)If you have an old coal plant you are probably scheduling retirement. You are probably not about to spend lots and lots of money on upgrading it or prolonging its life. You are probably not going to replace it with a new coal plant on the same site.
If you own a middle aged coal plant you are probably indicating that you will retire it in 203X or 204X. You are unlikely to close it early because of renewables but you are probably going to run down the asset and save on Opex whereever you can.
If you own a youngish coal plant you will probably run it for the foreseable future. You are probably worried. Or your bankers are probably worried.