Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Penn Coal == Electricity?
Hmmm, use coal instead of oil to generate electricity ... novel concept.
Beaver Valley Duquesne Light co. 17 MI W of McCandless, PA
Limerick Philadelphia Electric co. 21 MI NW of Philadelphia, PA
Peach Bottom PECO Energy co. 17.9 MI S of Lancaster, PA
Susquehanna Pennsylvania Power & Light co. 7 MI NE of Berwick, PA
Heh, only second to Illinois with it's 6.
- PITTSBURGH - Americans are expected to use as much as 3 percent more electricity each year over the next two decades, and coal could help fill the gap.
Mining the coal may not be an issue; both production and consumption rose last year. Moving more coal could be.
At the National Coal Show last week, industry executives and a government geologist discussed whether the United States has the necessary railcars, locomotives, trucks and barges to transport the coal that is needed to supply a growing American appetite for electricity.
Coal-fired power plants provide almost half of the electricity produced in the United States, and that share is expected to hold steady over the next 20 years, according to the Energy Information Administration, a part of the Energy Department.
- About 1.1 billion tons of coal was mined last year, slightly below the 2001 record of 1.3 billion tons; about 1 billion tons were used.
Virginia-based Norfolk Southern, which also owns mines, and the nation's other railroads are the workhorses for the coal industry, carrying about 60 percent of the coal shipped in the United States.
About 15 percent of Norfolk Southern's fleet is used to ship coal. Last year, the railroad bought 200 locomotives. It plans to buy 230 more in the next two years. The railroad also faces replacing more than 30,000 aging coal cars in the next 15 years.
Meanwhile, the industry may need to repair rail lines or build new ones.
Heh, only second to Illinois with it's 6.
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