Coal Comfort

“We wanted to be environmentally conscious. And we wanted to stay in business,” [Gary] Bombard said. There is a limit to the costs that can be passed along to the consumer, he said. 
    Freeps  

Some people will be burning coal, this winter, as an alternative to oil or wood.  But there is another alternative, one that leaves a very small footprint.  Art Woolf first proposed its use on this site and the Herald has since published his op-ed outlining the details.  The Freeps hasn't gotten around to it.

Art's plan relies on off-peak electricity.  His plan and the intentions of some people to burn coal this winter have at least one thing in common – the Greens find them both objectionable.  In the case of coal, we have this:

“Most Vermonters are looking for cleaner, healthier and cheaper solutions to meet their heating needs. Coal is not one of those.,” said James Moore, a clean energy advocate for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group in Montpelier ...
“Our job is to keep Vermonters warm in the most affordable, responsible way we can. And coal is not a solution,” Moore said.

And, on electricity, there is this:

"It is commendable to seek creative solutions to the heating problems that many Vermonters will be faced with this winter," said Blair Hamilton, director of Efficiency Vermont. "Unfortunately this particular solution is problematic in its ability to be implemented and could have significant adverse impacts on the electric system. It is not likely to be a useful option for this winter, and as energy prices rise, including electricity, it is also not likely to be a good option in the long-term."

In the face of what amounts to an emergency – the state, after all, is begging Washington for help in supplying fuel oil to the needy – what the Greens do is scold the rest of us on our poor choices.  Their solution, it seems, is to crawl under the covers and warm yourself with dreams of a future when all our energy is generated by clean, renewable means and there are no tradeoffs, no financial incentives, no urgency ...

Al Gore says it will take a mere ten years.

Meanwhile, back in the real world,

Bombard said he’s aware of “carbon footprint” concerns associated with coal. But finances were the overriding factor: “If we don’t do something, we are going to be out of business,” he said. “That’s the bottom line right there.”

Comments

[Brattleboro_conservative]

Coal becoming a viable source of heat? You don't say! Looks like we really are going back to the good old days.