"It takes one pound of coal to power your TV for four-and-a-half hours, another pound to power your bedside light for two evenings," says Martin Smith in the documentary "heat.".
"The average American household uses nine-and-a-half tons of coal every year. Fifty-two percent of all electricity consumed in America comes from coal. And with electricity consumption rising, utilities like AEP say coal is indispensable. They refer to it as base-load power. It means it is always available, unlike intermittent sources, such as solar or wind."
California gov Jerry Brown: ""Our wealth, our society, our being is driven by oil and carbon. It's intellectually dishonest to somehow say we can get some light bulbs or get a Prius, and then we're all done. No, this is going to take massive technological innovation. It's going to take changes in the way we live and work. And it's going to take cooperation of unprecedented degrees among business and government and among countries. That's where we are, and that's why there's no other word except `daunting.' I'm hopeful. I'm cautiously optimistic. But I would have to say one has to approach this with great humility."
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/heat/view/#ixzz1XnGB2b1k
Monday, September 12, 2011
Train gondolas that carry coal from Montana to Louisiana
