Are Wood Pellets a Good Alternative to Coal?

[Josh]

Could you explain to us then why electricity is getting really expensive? (Please leave politics out of it; it is expensive and getting more expensive in places as diverse as Texas and California.)

We won't make energy cheaper by choosing more expensive energy sources.

There are a lot of reasons energy has been getting more expensive. I think they include:

1. The rest of the world is less and less poor, and they are consuming a lot of energy. Most energy sources trade on the global market. That raises prices (supply and demand) because a lot more people want power and can afford it.

... for coal and natural gas? What?

Very little electricity is produced with oil.

[Bootstrap]

Could you explain to us then why electricity is getting really expensive? (Please leave politics out of it; it is expensive and getting more expensive in places as diverse as Texas and California.)

We won't make energy cheaper by choosing more expensive energy sources.

There are a lot of reasons energy has been getting more expensive. I think they include:

1. The rest of the world is less and less poor, and they are consuming a lot of energy. Most energy sources trade on the global market. That raises prices (supply and demand) because a lot more people want power and can afford it.

... for coal and natural gas? What?

Very little electricity is produced with oil.

Here's coal - China and India are major consumers. Both now consume more coal than we do.



Here's natural gas:

[Josh]

Natural gas is not easily shipped and has very different prices in different areas. North America is effectively an isolated market due to the high cost of shipping LNG.

Of course, saying we have a "global" market and thus we need to pay high prices for things... brings into question of just whom this "global" market benefits. What if we just kept our commodities at home and used for them for our own country? Who is benefitting to say we have a "global" market which means everything ends up being expensive for the American consumer?

[Bootstrap]

Natural gas is not easily shipped and has very different prices in different areas. North America is effectively an isolated market due to the high cost of shipping LNG.

Let's look at US exports of natural gas:

The United States exported a record volume of natural gas in 2023



To me, it looks like the United States does manage to export a fair amount of natural gas, most of it as LNG.

Of course, saying we have a "global" market and thus we need to pay high prices for things... brings into question of just whom this "global" market benefits. What if we just kept our commodities at home and used for them for our own country? Who is benefitting to say we have a "global" market which means everything ends up being expensive for the American consumer?

I think you are asking whether free markets and global trade are good for a country, and to what extent the government should decide what private industry does.

That is getting into politics and out of wood pellets and energy sources. So I think I'll stick with discussion of energy sources and markets.

[Ken]

Could you explain to us then why electricity is getting really expensive? (Please leave politics out of it; it is expensive and getting more expensive in places as diverse as Texas and California.)

In California a big part of the picture is fire liability. The major power companies are facing enormous liabilities for starting past fires and for remediating powerline risks that remain. Fire hazard costs have more than doubled in the past couple years and fire risk now accounts for about 1/4 of the total electrical costs in CA: https://www.publicadvocates.cpuc.ca.gov ... reases.pdf

Texas cost increases are due to a combination of increased demand (population growth, server farms and bitcoin mining, etc.) aging infrastructure that has not been well maintained by private companies, and the fact that Texas has chosen not to join any national grid meaning it can't import electricity for cheaper places during times of peak demand.

Texas went on a massive coal plant building spree about a decade ago. There was a huge one built not far from where we lived. It didn't help prices at all. They are mostly white elephants now.

[Neto]

I know what they are. I had one in Guatemala. The exposed wires always made me nervous and I frequently didn't have running water anyway. So I mostly used a solar water heater.

There is no reason they have to have exposed wires. Overall, they're a more energy efficient design and a better, easier to maintain design.

I think I know what Ken is talking about. The wires aren't exposed on the OUTSIDE of the shower head, but the heating coils inside the unit ARE actually bare steel coils, or springs. I about freaked out the first time I had to work on one, but by then I'd already taken hundreds of showers. I never got even the slightest 'tingle' from one of those showers. The ones we had in Brazil had three settings Frio (cold, no current), Verao (summer - warm), & Inverno (Winter - 'hot'). If the element burned in two, I would just pull the two ends together, and push them together, like two ends of a spring. That would make the water a bit hotter, but it would usually last long enough to get a replacement element at the grocery store the next time in town.

Our children have kept in touch with the other 'missionary kids' from down there, and they still get together for an "MK Reunion" nearly every year. We've hosted it ourselves a couple of times, and I've thought of building a small bathroom and shower on a small trailer, to help with the overload on the inside facilities. (We have a sewer clean-out pipe in the middle of the front yard, and the sewage could drain directly into there. So we would only need to string out a water hose, and an electric cord. These reunions are always in the summer, so there would not be any need for a heater, and the electric shower head would be plenty to take the chill off of the water. I don't think they heat well enough to use in winter here in Ohio. The ground temperature in the Amazon is around 70 or so, I'd guess. Unfortunately I never actually measured it.)

[Josh]

That is getting into politics and out of wood pellets and energy sources. So I think I'll stick with discussion of energy sources and markets.

If you'd like to take stay on topic, then feel free to discuss wood pellets vs coal.

[Bootstrap]

That is getting into politics and out of wood pellets and energy sources. So I think I'll stick with discussion of energy sources and markets.

If you'd like to take stay on topic, then feel free to discuss wood pellets vs coal.

Mostly trying to steer clear of politics in a thread that is not in the politics forum. Especially in a thread where we were asked not to go there.

Beyond that, this is Ernie's thread. He can say what is welcome or not here.

I'm not sure there's much to discuss on wood pellets vs. coal, coal hasn't been the dominant form of energy production for a very long time, and wood pellets are very unlikely to become dominant. OTOH, water for showers seems to be a hot topic ....

[Josh]

That is getting into politics and out of wood pellets and energy sources. So I think I'll stick with discussion of energy sources and markets.

If you'd like to take stay on topic, then feel free to discuss wood pellets vs coal.

Mostly trying to steer clear of politics in a thread that is not in the politics forum. Especially in a thread where we were asked not to go there.

Beyond that, this is Ernie's thread. He can say what is welcome or not here.

I'm not sure there's much to discuss on wood pellets vs. coal, coal hasn't been the dominant form of energy production for a very long time, and wood pellets are very unlikely to become dominant. OTOH, water for showers seems to be a hot topic ....

Actually, discussing the merits of coal vs wood pellets for home heating, etc. is quite an interesting topic. What isn't interesting is to have it derailed into yet another national and global policy discussion, as if any of us have any control over that.

[Bootstrap]

If you'd like to take stay on topic, then feel free to discuss wood pellets vs coal.

Mostly trying to steer clear of politics in a thread that is not in the politics forum. Especially in a thread where we were asked not to go there.

Beyond that, this is Ernie's thread. He can say what is welcome or not here.

I'm not sure there's much to discuss on wood pellets vs. coal, coal hasn't been the dominant form of energy production for a very long time, and wood pellets are very unlikely to become dominant. OTOH, water for showers seems to be a hot topic ....

Actually, discussing the merits of coal vs wood pellets for home heating, etc. is quite an interesting topic. What isn't interesting is to have it derailed into yet another national and global policy discussion, as if any of us have any control over that.

The three articles Ernie pointed to were very much about energy production, not primarily home heating. Perhaps Ernie can weigh in on what is in scope and out of scope? Until he does, I will stop posting in this thread.