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Duke wins approval for a $3100/kW plant

From E&E News ($ub req'd): Indiana has approved a $2 billion, 630 MW integrated gasificiation/combined cycle coal plant.

Two billion divided by 630 MW = $3,174/kW.

If we assume that coal equity investors expect to recover their investment over 20 years, with an 11 percent return, that works out to 5.7 cents/kWh just to pay off the capital for the power plant. Add in another 3 cents or so for transmission and distribution, and a couple cents for fuel and operating costs, and this plant will work out to over 10 cents in retail prices.

This in a state where the current average retail electric rate is 6.79 cents/kWh.

So why was it approved? Simple:

"In the Midwest, coal is plentiful and low-cost, and finding ways to burn it cleanly is fundamental to meeting our customers' demand for power," Duke Energy Indiana President Jim Stanley said in a statement.

The head spins.

Excerpts of the story below the fold.

George Bush fetes Al Gore in Oval Office

Yesterday, George W. Bush fulfilled the U.S. president’s traditional obligation to fete the winners of the Nobel Prize in the Oval Office — including, of course, Peace Prize Laureate (and, in the minds of some, rightful inhabitant of said Oval Office) Al Gore. Awkward! The two men had a private 40-minute conversation in which they […]

Notable quotable

“Here is my guess, and I know that I’m right. I will bet my car, in fact. Bush will come out, this president when he leaves office, will come out in the next decade or so as a strong advocate on behalf of ending global warming. He will be … he will have an environmentally […]

One small step for Republicans on climate, but giant leaps still needed

I've noticed recently that some conservatives -- particularly Andrew Sullivan -- have offered kind words to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for being the only presidential candidate in the Republican field to take the climate change issue seriously.

It's difficult to know what to make of this. On the one hand, the country would be in a much better position to seriously address the crisis if John McCain's environmental views fell in the mainstream of his party, instead of where they actually fall -- radically at odds with the views of his party's leaders, virtually all conservative thinkers, and almost every last pundit on the right. If that's ever going to change, it will probably require more people like Andrew Sullivan to highlight -- and praise -- the fact that McCain isn't a typical right-wing denialist or industry shill.

At the same time, though, this really brings to light just how far behind the issue green conservatives are, and, as a corollary to that, the fact that the party of the filibuster is light years away from accepting the sort of legislation that will be necessary very, very soon if the problem is to be addressed adequately.

Cap-and-trade vs. a carbon tax

I don't know what to say about this article, which is largely a critique of a grandfathered "cap-and-trade" system for reducing greenhouse emissions.

On the one hand, I shouldn't complain. Any serious discussion in the press of climate policy is welcome. But on the other hand -- jeez, is it so hard to get climate policy right?

My problem isn't so much that the article gets things wrong (though it does). It's that it tells, at most, half the story of cap-and-trade -- not even the important half.

Watch presidential candidates discuss climate and energy

On Nov. 17, 2007, Grist cosponsored the first-ever presidential candidate forum focusing on climate change and energy policy. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Dennis Kucinich attended and spoke in-depth about their green platforms. (All Democratic and Republican presidential candidates were invited to attend.) Watch the forum below, or read the transcript [PDF]. For more information […]

Northern Ireland and Japan plagued by jellyfish

We’re sure you have plenty of fodder for eco-nightmares, but let us add another: killer jellyfish. Last week, a horde of jellies covering an area of 10 square miles (!) attacked Northern Ireland’s only salmon farm, killing some 100,000 fish. The mauve stinger jellyfish were well north of their favored Mediterranean habitat, thanks to warmer-than-normal […]

There are some compelling reasons to focus on cleaning up rather than abandoning coal

In my previous post, I argued that if developing nations refuse to alter their escalating reliance on dirty coal, we’re all screwed. If they are willing to consider more expensive (at least in the short-term) options, the question then becomes, which alternatives are fastest, cheapest, most practicable, and most sustainable? "Clean coal" is one alternative. […]

Commission on bluefin conservation comes up empty again

The following is a guest essay from Carl Safina, the oceans' most articulate defender and director of the Orion Grassroots Network member group Blue Ocean Institute. His books include Song for the Blue Ocean, Eye of the Albatross, and Voyage of the Turtle. His blog also is a must-read.

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The story goes like this: It's one of the largest, fastest, most gorgeous fish in the sea. Unfortunately, its extraordinary warm-bloodedness makes its muscle delicious to the strange seafood-loving creatures that live on land. The value of bluefin tuna meat goes up due to global demand for sushi and sashimi. As the price goes up, fishing increases. Too many fish are caught and the population collapses. Over the past 50 years, bluefin fisheries have collapsed off Brazil, in the North Sea, and recently off the eastern U.S. and Canada.

The Commission tasked with managing Atlantic bluefin fisheries is completely broken. The 43-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas met this month in, appropriately enough, Turkey, to discuss the fate of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic. Usually referred to by its acronym ICCAT -- pronounced eye-cat -- it should be called instead ICCAN'T. Or, keep the acronym and change its name to International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna.

World’s poor to be shafted most by climate change, U.N. report says

It’s official: The world’s poorest people will be the most screwed over by climate change and its ill effects, including drought, agricultural failures, water shortages, disease, flooding, and all the rest, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Program. “For millions of people, these are events that offer a one-way ticket to […]