End Of Coal

21 Replies to “End Of Coal”

1. I wonder if that coal mine in Cape Breton that was shuttered twenty(?) years ago or so is re-opening? I still remember the reason for closing it was that it was “uneconomical” and the world was moving to “better” sources of heat/power.

   1. No business in Cape Breton will ever reopen. They perfected the Maritime Provinces culture in Cape Breton and permanently live on the government teat without lifting a finger to help themselves. It’s a big white folks reserve. The only town a Cape Bretoner will ever find a job in is Fort McMurray. Did I say that?

   2. The Martimes is Firmly nestled Suckling on mother Goosses Teat…why work when the Feds Feed them daily…??

      A part of the world that really needs a Tsunami

2. Coal, wood, peat … back to the future. I once lived in an apartment building which burnt the garbage thrown down a chute. It kept the walls warm in winter. There was some fun when aerosol bottles exploded but I never evacuated the place. Forbidden these days but it was better than the fake recycling claims made for blue boxes.

   1. There is technology called UHT (Ultra High Temperature) generation plants (one of the Scandinavian countries actually has one or two). These UHT generation plants burn everything and produces “waste” heat and electricity. As I understand it, they use the waste heat for greenhouses during the winter months and the electricity to power homes. Since plastic is a petroleum product, I’m surprised that it is disposed of instead of burned to produce electricity.

      1. Favill

         Good point. The abject failure of supposed “recycling” added to the creation of massive waste dump sites is about as stupid as it gets.

         Perfectly good material to keep said hi temp facilities going. REAL RECYCLING. FIRE it up using a series of Plasma Torches and burn it all.

         But nope..as in Calgary, let’s just store it on a massive yard with shipping containers of “recycled” material…storage cost paid by tax payers.

         Deaf Dumb and totally blind

         1. And if you think about it, places like Ft Mac would benefit from a UHT generating plant. Imagine all the landfills and junk yards in AB (perhaps even Sask) emptied to feed the electrical needs of that little city/drilling operations and they’d be able to grow some of their fresh vegetables locally all year.

3. Burgress
   A friend from a communist country told me at the start that “recycling” was just a conditioning exercise, and he was right. I sometime do clean out, so need to do dump runs, so I saw “recycling” as it happened first hand. I know the people who work at the transfer depot, and very little get actually recycled. I started and ran a plastics recycling operation, and segregation is a big problem, and effecting it is labour intensive, and there in lies the lie. If they left it to private individuals, more recycling would take place, the cardboard thing in Toronto was a perfect example of that.

   1. segregation is a big problem

      Not at a certain recycling depot I was at recently. People bringing stuff there did all the work so as to not interrupt the coffee or smartphone time of the employees.

      Nice work if you can get it…..

   2. At one place I worked 20 years ago they wanted us to sort paper by colour ( OMG ), remove staples, plastics, light card board from corrugated card board and food products, paper plates et al. Since this increased the number of garbage bins I waited for the cleaner’s reaction. He lifted the bins one at a time and put the contents into one big bag. We both laughed and this policy ended soon after since it kept the cleaners from doing what was necessary on their shift.

   3. Heh …

      On the glass bin is sez (sic) to take the label off.
      When you consider that how much of hot water it takes to take off the labels, is it worthwhile to recycle?
      Using fossil energy to heat the water and do the job. Then get it into the car to take it to the recycle depot.
      Then the diesel truck to pick up the recycle bin and take to wherever.

      I’ve always done it since being a kid.
      We got change for recycling paper and glass bottles.

      1. Glass is melted sand thus endlessly renewable. Glass in landfill even with a paper label will not contaminate the earth or water sources. Some glass has plastic labels now which could be eliminated easily. Its easy to understand why glass cost more to recycle,

         1. Like glass or anything else for that matter are some alien life forms or something.
            It came from dust and in due time will return to dust.

4. … the fake recycling claims made for blue boxes.”

   An issue certainly worthy of an investigation by journalist types in my opinion, but as these things go, no one will touch it with a ten foot pole.

   1. Journalists recycle the current ‘new thingy’ because initiative is a dead end. They must sing from this week’s hymn list.

   2. All you have to do is drive to your local recycling plant and watch the trucks carrying all the “recycling” leave the plant and head straight to the dump.

5. Gang Green will have to make it illegal because real money talks.

6. Hyper-hypprocritcal British Columbia must be reaping biggly amounts of royalties from their very own North American leading coal exporting port of Vancouver. Woe be those that wish to increase exports thru BC climate-friendlier fossil fuels like NatGas. But export BC coal to the ChiComs and you’re one of the good guys.

   1. But but but … …? Aren’t the ships beating whales to death. Shouldn’t they just close the Port of Vancouver? For the whales???

7. A coal-fired power plant with a mountain of coal sitting beside it is about as reliable a source of electricity as you can find. That plant will be pumping out electricity for the next couple of months even if its supply of coal stops.
   And it will be able to adjust its output up and down to match demand. Try that with wind or solar.

8. The left was wrong about coal…

   Is there anything the left is right about?