Opponents of massive new energy taxes and regulations breathed a small sigh of relief in June when the Lieberman-Warner climate-tax bill went down in flames on the Senate floor. Even 10 Democrats broke with the party and voted against it, writing that they would have opposed the bill on final passage. Unfortunately, power-mad bureaucrats at […]

I haven’t always been a supporter of former President Jimmy Carter’s politics, but I did vote for him, mainly because we shared the Navy experience and he was educated as an engineer. His later opposition to nuclear power surprised many of us in the power business at the time, and I found his suggestion to […]

Australia considers seabed sequestration legislation / ElectraTherm installs its first commercial waste-heat generator / Mass. researchers achieve dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency / Nuclear power option for developing nations gaining steam / The great green wall of China / POWER digest / Correction

Assess your cooling tower’s condition / Proper technique for vertical-up stick welding / Move material with a sonic horn

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) recently issued its long-awaited draft Climate Change Scoping Plan (Draft Plan) for implementing Assembly Bill (AB) 32, California’s ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reduction initiative. AB 32 requires California to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020—roughly a 30% reduction in projected “business-as-usual” emissions levels or 168 million metric […]

Wisconsin Public Service Corp. placed its world-class Weston 4 into commercial service on June 30 and is now enjoying the benefits of coal-fired supercritical technology’s inherently higher efficiency, operating flexibility, and lower CO2 emissions. For its unequalled environmental protection credentials, well-integrated project team, and employing without a doubt the most advanced coal-fired steam generation technology in the U.S. today, Weston 4 is awarded POWER magazine’s 2008 Plant of the Year award.

Lamar Light and Power is a municipal utility that has been generating the southeastern Colorado city’s electricity since 1920. Rising natural gas and oil costs pushed LL&P to retire its steam plant five years ago and begin hunting for more economic power sources. The answer: repower the existing plant with a state-of-the-art coal-fired circulating fluidized-bed combustor and cross-connect old and new steam turbines. The $120 million project will stabilize the region’s electricity rates for many years to come and is the winner of POWER’s 2008 Marmaduke Award for excellence in O&M—named for Marmaduke Surfaceblow, the fictional marine engineer/plant troubleshooter par excellence.

Many of today’s advanced steam generators favor either an all-volatile treatment or oxygenated treatment chemistry program, both of which require strict maintenance of an ultra-pure boiler feedwater or condensate system. Those requirements are many times at odds with the lower-quality water sources, such as graywater, available for plant makeup and cooling water. Adding a condensate polisher can be a simple, cost-effective solution.

By Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
The fallout from the Supreme Court’s April 2, 2007, decision (Massachusetts v. Duke Energy) in which the high court ruled that the EPA does have the right to regulate CO₂ emissions as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act (CAA) continues. The court also ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate carbon emissions from automobiles and other vehicles—and, by extension, power plants (my words, not the court’s).

Selective catalytic reduction systems were introduced as a means of reducing the nitrogen oxide emissions of power generators in the 1980s. Since then, environmental issues have increased in importance, as has the value of an SCR reactor. Unfortunately, because this technology is still so new, not all users understand its full potential and proper maintenance techniques.