Stored Solar Energy In Colorado

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Tony Heller

Colorado generates large amounts of clean, green electricity using its vast reserves of stored solar energy.

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About Tony Heller

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26 Responses to Stored Solar Energy In Colorado

    • AndyG55 says:
      April 21, 2015 at 12:06 pm

      Gees, downward basically trend all the way.

      Good to know this preventable disease can be controlled with proper OHAS, hey ! 🙂

      Reply
    • Gail Combs says:
      April 21, 2015 at 12:35 pm

      You are a bit behind the times on that one Chris,

      WSJ, April 23, 2014

      Federal officials announced tougher rules Wednesday designed to fight an uptick in black lung disease in some pockets of coal-mining country.

      The move represents the most significant changes to dust-control practices in mines since the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, which initiated modern health-and-safety requirements in mines nationwide….

      The incidence of black lung disease fell sharply from the 1970s through the late 1990s, but federal health experts have noticed a resurgence since then in parts of Appalachia, particularly at small mines. They attribute increased rates of the disease—including more aggressive forms in younger workers—to more-efficient machinery that can generate more dust, longer shifts and an increase in silica dust churned up when thinner coal seams are mined….

      ….many miners already wear devices that instantly test for various gases, including oxygen and potentially explosive methane.

      Under the new Labor Department rules to be phased in over the next two years, the amount of coal dust a miner can be exposed to during a shift will be cut by 25%. Miners regularly exposed to high levels of dust will be required to wear monitors to continuously track concentrations of dust particles, and operators will have to sample air more frequently and take immediate action if levels rise above the threshold. The new rules apply to the 1,700 coal mines in the U.S., though the new continuous personal dust monitors are optional for surface mines…..
      http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304788404579519542872939418

      http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-CA913_COALDU_G_20140423184204.jpg

      The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) agency was established the under the Occupational Safety and Health Act signed into law on December 29, 1970. It has put a big dent in the problem.

      Another bot of technology besides testing devices and masks:

      MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration)
      The rule takes effect August 1, 2014, with some components phased in over the following two years.

      Zinkan is providing and developing innovative mining chemicals for coal mine dust control
      Their product line:
      http://www.zinkan.com/industries/coal/

      Reply
      • Gail Combs says:
        April 21, 2015 at 12:38 pm

        ARUGH, I really wish we could edit. I am fighting a very slow connection that constantly drops service so my editing is not doing well. Sorry guys.

        Reply
      • Chris Barron says:
        April 21, 2015 at 12:46 pm

        How are the figures which i produced and which are directly comparable to the ones which you produced ‘behind the times’, Gail

        They’re the same sort of numbers

        You seem to be discrediting my figures, when they’re from the same sources as yours.. Why ?

        Reply
        • Chris Barron says:
          April 21, 2015 at 1:33 pm

          A known reason for the reduction in the number of black lung diagnosis
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSYmJyTiZNQ

        • Gail Combs says:
          April 21, 2015 at 1:54 pm

          No I am not discrediting your figures Chris.

          I am saying those figures were recognized and addressed by new mining standards and new technology here in the USA.

        • AndyG55 says:
          April 21, 2015 at 9:41 pm

          No figures on the number of deaths, or diseases etc related to the mining of the rare earth in China. It is only since wind turdines came on the scene that the real mess has been made. Each turdine magnet uses large amounts rare earths, up to a several tons of the stuff. Comparing to the use in iPhones etc is very stupid.
          Also, magnets in coal powered power stations are not the same material, they don’t need to be a light as possible vs magnetic flux, so they don’t have to include the rare earths with their associated massive pollution.

      • darrylb says:
        April 21, 2015 at 2:44 pm

        Are we comparing apples and oranges here?
        The Colorado picture is showing open pit mines, while the mines in Appalachia are closed, and obviously more hazardous in many ways

        I have always learned that the quality of coal is greater in Appalachia and that is why mining there continues. But what do I know?

        Reply
  2. Chris Barron says:
    April 21, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    On the off chance that a coal worker is reading this, don’t forget your benefits….if you don’t care about you then nobody else will
    http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dcmwc/regs/compliance/blbene.htm

    Reply
    • mkelly says:
      April 21, 2015 at 12:40 pm

      What good are benefits if your company is put out of business?

      Reply
    • Gail Combs says:
      April 21, 2015 at 12:57 pm

      I would rather have them use the technology available to PREVENT the disease in the first place!

      From 2011 WSJ:

      …A new device called a personal dust monitor could soon bring the hazardous and dirty job of underground coal mining a step further into the 21st century.

      But even some fans of the technology say its broad adoption by the mining industry faces hurdles, as business, regulators and labor all weigh in on how it should be used.

      Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. of Waltham, Mass., a maker of equipment for high-tech laboratories, spent more than a decade developing and testing the so-called PDM 3600 in conjunction with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH…..

      ……

      O/T
      I used to do the plant safety testing for one of the chemical companies I worked for in the 1970s. The union steward was barking up the wrong tree safety-wise. I ran into him at the laundry-mat the week before I was leaving to take another job. I tipped him off about where he could find all my copies of the reports sent to management that got marked confidential as well as the 1970s copy of the book:

      http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Hazardous-Properties-Chemical-Substances/dp/0471714585

      A fellow chemist/caver still working at the company later reported the company was forced to clean up its act.

      https://media2.stickersmalin.com/produit/100/stickers-devil-smile-R1-143760-2.png
      http://moonbattery.com/graphics/liberalism.jpg

      A well informed union steward can do wonders for the people working at a company if he is realistic and knowledgable. The guy above is not the only union steward I sat down and educated off company property. Often their understanding of economics as well as chemistry is dismal and the state and national organizations are not about to educate them.

      Now that education is a lot easier to obtain thanks to the internet.

      Reply
      • Chris Barron says:
        April 21, 2015 at 1:16 pm

        I think only a madman would think it woasn’t worth improving conditions.

        Which is exactly why we have to wonder why Obama drags his feet on the bill which will half the safe level for coal dust in mines…pressure from mine owners regarding the costs involved perhaps ?

        in the meantime, the miners still need paying their due compensation so spending the money on something else would be a bit mean.

        Currently there’s a bit over 16,000 black lung benefits claimants per month. Payments vary from $638 for a single miner, to about $950 with one depedent and upto $1276 per month with 3 or more depednents

        If the average payment were $1000 that’s $16million a month which the mines are having to pay and add on to the cost of coal.

        Here’s the thing…I bet Obama is reluctant to lower the safe limit because the cost will force the mine owners to have to lose much more………In my view the mine owners should be paid a subsidy to install the new ventilation equipment because it is the government which sets the limit.

        Reply
        • Gail Combs says:
          April 21, 2015 at 2:11 pm

          Chris the new ruling went into effect August 2014. That is what I keep trying to tell you.

          US Department of Labor
          Mine Safety and Health Administration – MSHA
          Final rule issued to better protect coal miners’ health

          Final rule issued to better protect coal miners’ health

          The new rule will lower the concentration of harmful respirable coal mine dust that causes coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, or black lung. It takes a comprehensive approach that includes: increased sampling by mine operators; use of new technology for real-time sampling results; immediate corrective action when excessive dust levels are found; determination of noncompliance based on a single MSHA sample; and reduced dust standards. The rule takes effect August 1, 2014, with some components phased in over the following two years. Proposed in 2010, the rule builds on years of research and was developed with the input of industry, labor, and health professionals. It is the centerpiece of the agency’s campaign to End Black Lung, launched in 2009.
          Read the final rule here
          [Several other PDFs are also linked]

          Obama has nothing to do with it since it is a REGULATION and not a law. In the USA a new reg gets written and then is placed in the FEDERAL REGISTER:

          Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.
          http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=FR

          Once published as a proposed rule the public may comment for a set period of time:

          Proposed Rules Section in the Federal Register

          This section of the Federal Register contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules….

          …… Additionally, many agencies voluntarily publish proposed changes to procedural rules, interpretative rules and agency policies to gather public comments……
          http://www.gpo.gov/help/index.html#about_fdsys2.htm

          At the end of the comment period the federal agency reads the comments and may rewrite, abandon or publish the proposed rule as a final rule. (Rules and Regs are the same thing)

          This process has been carried out and the final rule/regulation published. It now has the same weight in a court of law as a law passed by Congress and signed by the President.

          I do not like the system but that is the system in the USA. It has already been challenged in the Supreme Court and declared constitutional so we are stuck with bureaucrats writing laws.

        • darrylb says:
          April 21, 2015 at 2:46 pm

          BTW, Gail glad to see you are back.
          Have you been on vacation?

  3. dmacleo says:
    April 21, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    open pit mining (as in pic) not as susceptible to the issues miners have.
    cabs are hepa protected often.

    Reply
  4. Dave1billion says:
    April 21, 2015 at 8:44 pm

    Another thread hijacked by Chris Baron.

    He’s a troll, pure and simple, out to distract from the issues we discuss here. He does it on purpose and probably spends his time bragging to his buddies about all of the attention he gets.

    I wouldn’t even spend time arguing with his assertions.

    His time here will pass. Remember the Fish?

    Reply
  5. Dave1billion says:
    April 21, 2015 at 8:51 pm

    Now, back to the thread…

    I’m curious how “clean” the coal really is. “Clean Coal”, as in how we that have spent time in the environmental and energy fields and know what we’re talking about understand it.

    Is the coal in that area low in sulfur? I know that it’s scrubbed out of the exhaust gases (I used to work on environmental permits for SO2 scrubbers), but I’m interested in the comparative levels of sulfur for the coal out there.

    Just from an academic point of view. I know the SO2 emissions are regulated and what comes out of the stacks is clean.

    Reply
  6. AndyG55 says:
    April 21, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    Right on cue.. Wind Turbine Permits halted in Denmark.

    http://notrickszone.com/2015/04/21/beleaguered-industry-wind-parks-coming-under-fire-due-to-health-impacts-from-infrasound-danish-permitting-halts/#sthash.w8HwAthq.dpbs

    Hopefully this issue will no longer be swept under the carpet.

    Reply
  7. inMAGICn says:
    April 21, 2015 at 10:39 pm

    I went into an underground U mine in Colorado years ago. Respirators were required, especially on the mining face (not word play, that’s what the active work area is called). The union steward would come by, the miners had their masks on. The health rep from the company did the same. Masks on. They left, the miners pulled their masks down.

    Reply
    • Gail Combs says:
      April 21, 2015 at 11:16 pm

      I am not surprised. People still smoke. A bit of education, a trip to a hospital to see the results of idiotic behavior and for coal miners literally passing around a healthy lung and a black lung.

      Our Bio teacher did that in high school and it sure convinced me not to smoke. The feel of that gritty black lung really drove how the reason not to smoke. I am the only non-smoker in my family.

      At some point though people have to be responsible for their own behavior.

      Reply

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