President Obama using the EPA to shut down coal fired electricity generation in the USA
http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=3710
These two online articles show that concern is rising in the USA about two main issues around the shutdown of coal fired power – the impact of higher electricity prices on the less well off and the reliability of the grid. I hope that policymakers in the USA can learn from Australian experience after our Coalition Govt foolishly introduced a tiny RET scheme (Renewable Energy Target) in 2001 – then in 2010 this was vastly increased by GreenLabor. Of course the USA gets 20% of electricity from nuclear energy – I do not know if that sector can take up any slack from reductions in coal use. IMHO Australia is sleepwalking towards increased risk of grid instability but adopting the 33Gwh target for 2020 has eased that risk a little. On the other hand some states are working towards higher targets. Queensland wants 50% renewable energy by 2030 and the ACT (only ~300K people) has a 90 percent renewable energy target for 2020. All against a background of China increasing emissions out to 2035 at least. Nothing we try to do matters a cup- full of warm spit.
— gReader Pro
