Investors shun coal, turning to cleaner energy
By Steven Mufson, Washington Post
The headline news for the coal industry in 2010 was what didn’t happen: Construction did not begin on a single new coal-fired power plant in the United States for the second straight year.
This in a nation where a fleet of coal-fired plants generates nearly half the electricity used.
But a combination of low natural gas prices, shale gas discoveries, the economic slowdown and litigation by environmental groups has stopped – at least for now – groundbreaking on new ones.
“Coal is a dead man walkin’,” says Kevin Parker, global head of asset management and a member of the executive committee at Deutsche Bank. “Banks won’t finance them. Insurance companies won’t insure them. The EPA is coming after them. . . . And the economics to make it clean don’t work.”
From 2000 to 2008, construction started on 20 units in 19 plants, according to Edison Electric Institute. Last year, utilities and power-generating companies dropped plans to build 38 coal plants while announcing that they would retire 48 aging, inefficient ones, according to the environmental group Sierra Club.
Although 2010 saw the collapse of climate legislation in the Senate, the Sierra Club is trumpeting such statistics as a sign that “coal is a fuel of the past.”
The battle over coal plants could sharpen in 2011, as the Environmental Protection Agency deploys regulations to improve the efficiency – and lower the greenhouse gas emissions – of big power plants.
Well, way back Obama said he was going to destroy the coal industry. Looks like he’s succeeding (through the EPA).
When did Obama say this? I’d really like to see the speech or read the quote. It is a great thing that investors are looking to greener energy sources not something that needs to be political. This benefits every living thing on this planet. When will people wake up?
Neaver!
Snoheather, he said it right here:
http://www.theatlanticright.com/2008/11/02/obama-promised-audience-will-destroy-coal-industry/
Am I glad that China and India, with their 2.5 billion people have pledged to not build more coal fired powerplants. This will surely benefit every living thing on earth. Their population being 8 times larger than the USA will provide 8 times the benefit. Hallaluya. Furthermore The National Science Information Service Bureau has stated that by 2030 there will be enough windmills (approximately 2,101,432) to supply all the electricity needs of the USA. As Alfred E. Newman said, “What me worry”.