01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
Production from Wyoming Powder River Basin (PRB) coal mines ended last year with a increase of only about 1.1%, reflecting a record 451.3 million tons, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. Production of PRB coal...
01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
The FutureGen Industrial Alliance Inc. selected Mattoon, Ill., as the site of the $1.8 billion FutureGen project just before Christmas, but the plant may never move off the drawing board.. FutureGen, the proposed prototype of a near-zero-emissions coal plant...
01.01.2008 | Emerging Energy Research
Integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology, a process of gasifying coal that allows the capture of carbon dioxide emissions, has tremendous potential for meeting future baseload generation demand. Though it is one of the leading alternatives for...
01.01.2008 | Chris Holley (cholley@accessintel.com) is a reporter for COAL POWER’s sister publication, Energy Daily (
A federal appeals court has rejected a National Mining Association (NMA) suit seeking to throw out new regulations issued by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The rules were to improve protection for miners in the wake of accidents at two West...
01.01.2008 | Douglas J. Smith, IEng, Contributing Editor
Condition monitoring (CM) has become an increasingly important aspect of power plant maintenance philosophy. Today many utilities are using a variety of predictive maintenance (PM) techniques like CM to lower their operation and maintenance expenses. Over the...
01.01.2008 | Douglas J. Smith, IEng, Contributing Editor
Employees of Alabama Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, routinely work near energized wires, intense heat, nuclear fuel, heavy equipment, moving vehicles, and pressurized equipment, as well as under other conditions that require exceptional safety...
01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
Visiting power plants is one of the perks of being a COAL POWER editor. Some plants are located in metropolitan areas; others are closer to east nowhere, especially those mine-mouth plants. Each is unique and worth the travel time to visit and meet plant staff....
01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE, Editor-in-Chief
Combat veterans use the phrase "fog of war" to explain why carefully prepared battle plans are quickly overwhelmed by chaos once the first bullet is fired. Survivors often describe experiences that are markedly different from those of others...
01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
Use of Powder River Basin (PRB) coal for power generation set another record in 2007. In fact, PRB coal now accounts for about 40% of all the coal fired in the U.S. to produce electricity. Yet we have barely dented the estimated 800 billion tons of the...
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