DirtSimple

Coal vs. Natural Gas: Which ETF Will Win the Battle?

All fuels produce CO2, NOx, CO, SO2 (if sulfur is in fuel), H2O and other compounds when burned. Chemical composition of the fuel determines what the products of combustion will be when the fuel is oxidized. Combustion is the release of energy when the fuel is combined with oxygen in the oxidation process. The primary components of the fuel, typically C & H, combine with O to form CO2 and H2O, the major constituents in exhaust gas, along with the nitrogen that was in the combustion air.. This happens whether it's a gas turbine or a coal boiler. Both simple and combined cycle gas turbines use advanced combustors and post combustion catalytic clean-up to control NOx and CO just as the coal plants do. Coal has more C in the fuel and thus has higher CO2 emission than gas fuel. Gas turbine exhaust is always cleaner than a coal plant exhaust. Coal is cheaper, but it normally has many other trace elements in it such as mercury and lead that are problematic. Gas turbine combined cycles are roughly twice as efficient as coal fired steam plants, so when you combine that with the fact that gas fuel has lower carbon content than coal, the overall environmental impact from the gas turbine plant is always lower than that of a coal plant.

Re VOC's = Volatile Organic Compounds, These are usually understood to be higher order hydrocarbons, and are usually specified as being non-methane and non-ethane compounds. Methane and ethane are the two primary components in natural gas. Higher order complex hydrocarbons that survive the combustion process (C & H molecules that did not oxidize in the combustion process) are exhausted with the other combustion products. This happens in both coal boilers and in gas turbine combustion processes. (Trane250 - It has nothing to do with lube oil. If lube oil is burning off of the bearing surfaces, there is a big equipment problem, and the unit either is about to, or already has, tripped off-line.)

So, after all that ,,,, what is it, coal or gas???

IMHO - 50+% of our generating base using coal isn't going to disappear overnight. Gas fired simple and combined cycle is the only current available solution to meet short term load growth needs, especially if/when the economy picks up. Alternatives will continue to develop, but when the price of alternatives and CAP & TAX are in full swing, the consumer will start to wake up to what's happening when he gets the bill. (BTW - did you know that every MW of wind or any intermittent renewable generation requires a dispatchable back up source for reliability, usually gas fired GT these days?) I don't expect coal to drop long term, and it should see support in the export market as well, if not at home. The opportunity I'm watching for is signs of recovery, then go long gas. And, if GE ever dumps its financial arm, I'm all over that one! Even more if it dumps NBC too.

Disclosure - no positions in either coal or gas at the moment, Retired GE.

Oil Consumption: How Does Today Compare to 1980?

Hmmmm ... Let's see.... CWEI ... "still remarkably inexpensive", where at $94.79 today, it's only a mere triple from $30 in December (just 6 months!)??? I wonder at what point it becomes "expensive"?

Looks more than a little too hyperbolic for my money. I'd run for the exit on this one if I had any money in it.

Why Do Oil Prices Keep Rising?

No surprise at fall in Russian production numbers ... expect that to continue as gov't control of the resource continues to replace private business enterprise.

Time for an Oil Change: Think American Alternative Energy

Fred ..... If it takes two units of energy to make one unit's worth of hydrogen, how/why does that make hydrogen the energy of the future??

Do Biofuels Harm More than They Help?

This has nothing to do with investing ... it's all feel-good environmental psycho-babble for those on a guilt trip. The opening says it all right away - "Are biofuels just as harmful as fossil fuels?"

How can one conclude that returning subterranean fossilized carbon to plant and animal life on the surface by using fossil fuel is harmful? CO2 (product of burning any fossil fuel) is fertilizer for plant life, and plants produce oxygen. Guess what folks -> NEWSFLASH: all that fossil fuel we use today got to be fossil fuel because at one time long ago it WAS carbon in the surface ecosphere as plant and animal life! Yes, right here on this little bitttie eensey weensey desert island floating around in the ocean of the universe, and on which we are stranded! All we are doing is returning that carbon to the light of day on the surface of the island.

By the way, how many of you out there fretting about the harm of global warming can remember the 70's when we were supposedly returning to the ice age? If you don't, check it out. This global warming hysteria is the same thing redux, just in the opposite direction. Actually, I wouldn't mind a little milder weather here in the northeast. I wouldn't have to move south when I retire. Why, I might even have the beach at my front door!!

Saudi Aramco Insider: Oil Structural Ceiling Reached

... "but the undeniable fact remains that the world's most technologically advanced nation, the United States, has been unable to prevent it's own peak." ....

I do believe there is a peak to be reached at some point, and have worked for Aramco before it was nationalized by the Saudi's. But, the quote above doesn't compute in my mind ... the greenies and their politicians have long had a major hand in preventing and discouraging domestic exploration!

The Oil Scam Driving Crude Over $80

Even tho this sample of drivel is far from what I otherwise like to follow on Seeking Alpha, I always kind of enjoy Phil's mindless ranting .... only this time I was exceedingly disappointed ..... he didn't blame it on Bush! ...... But I was able to smile anyway!

AmTechThinks GE Should Buy Cree; GE Disagrees

Now there's some rationale that makes sense .... draining the IP moat is a very plausible game plan ....

AmTechThinks GE Should Buy Cree; GE Disagrees

Now really ..... If queried, would anyone expect GE to say "Yes, CREE would fit nicely into our "Eco-imagination" strategy, and we plan to tender for the shares." ???? What a useless closing comment to this piece!

Oil: Feed the Machine, America - You Have No Choice!

I scan "Seeking Alpha" for legitimate investing opinion and thought. I find this to be neither. If I need a fix of Bush Bashing, I just go to the main stream Drive BY Media for about 10 seconds. Sorry to see it here too.
Ray Racine