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Italy Proposes Phasing Out Coal Power Plants By 2025 (reuters.com)
Italy is the next country to phase out coal. According to Reuters, the country has set its sights on phasing out coal power plants by 2025. From the report: Italy's biggest utility Enel has said it will not invest in new coal-fired power plants. The new energy strategy, still under discussion, aims to reach the goal of 27 percent of gross overall energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030, the document showed. The strategy, which should be approved by the government at the beginning of November, is also looking to speed up the introduction of vehicles powered by alternative fuels. It aims to raise the number of electric charging stations to 19,000 by 2020.
They are trying to prevent the end of the world. Probably spooked by heat waves this year. Remember that coal has received a lot public funding also.
Your post assumes that there is a free market in place. If there is not, and energy is centrally-planned, then any change in the mix would need to come from the central planner rather than the non-existent or limited market.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I have a neighbor who has four pit bulls. Notice I say "has" not "owns". Her adult son, who lives in the same town, is a dog fancier but can't be bothered to feed them, clean up after them, or pay for veterinary care. He just buys dogs and then dumps them on his mom, and comes over to play with them when he feels like.
This is an example of what economists call "externalized costs". The son doesn't pay the food or vet costs, so he acts like they don't exist,
Externalized costs are why the market won't eliminate coal on its own. According to a recent Scientific American article, coal particulates kill as many Americans annually as car accidents. And given the nature of the illnesses caused, that's a lot of cost, not even putting a price on human longevity or quality of life,
If all the costs of pollution were part of the purchase decision, the market would make an objectively optimal choice about continuing to use coal. But the costs are paid by someone else, so as far as the parties to the transaction are concerned they don't exist.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
they'll be burning natural gas from North Africa.
That is still way better than burning coal.
virtue signaling
Well, it seems like the (unironic, not quoted) use of "virtue signalling" has mostly taken over as "SJW" as the most effective indicator that the user of it is a raging idiot.
The nice thing about "virtue signalling" is that you can accuse anything of being virtue signalling and it's impossible to deny.
For example: the parent post is simply virtue signalling. It's utterly content free, except for waving a big fat virtue flag saying "I'm attacking the right people see how virtuous I am".
SJW n. One who posts facts.
You misspelled 'America'.
No sig today...
And since they want to switch to electric vehicles, they'll effectively be "vehicles powered by natural gas burned at very high efficiencies". Which is not in any way a bad thing. Combined cycle NG plants can reach 60% efficiency or so; a typical ICE peaks at 35-40% and averages 20-25%, and releases much more pollution per unit energy - and emits it right where people are breathing it in rather than "at altitude, generally outside of cities".
That said, let me be the first to question Italy's seriousness on the electric vehicle front. While Europe is up to 1,6% market penetration on average, with Norway in first place at around 1/3rd market penetration, Italy has a measly 0,1% market penetration - the worst in the developed world. Even Iceland buys nearly as many electric cars per month now as Italy (the latter having 12% of the population of the entire EU, the former having a third of a million people). Italy is an embarrassment when it comes to electric vehicles, not a role model. We'll see if they actually do anything to change this.
The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
You can also fit devices to chimneys to capture the pollutants which are too costly/heavy to be fitted to ICE cars so you can release fewer pollutants in the first place, as well as doing so in a better place. And they can be subject to closer monitoring.