allowing many different solutions to be evaluated, so that the best one could be found.. Optimised energy use.
These plants are the source of reliable electricity for citizens that need it across the world, and maintaining that energy is incredibly important for economic growth in places like Asia, China, India and Africa, as well as being vital for resilience against the climate impacts these areas are already facing..Furthermore, in countries with old coal, including the US, Canada and Europe, entire communities are economically reliant on the coal plants.
Shutting them down would cause substantial unemployment and hardship.In the United States alone there are 260 gigawatts of operating coal.Repowering the existing coal power plants using advanced heat sources presents a key political opportunity to garner bipartisan support for climate action in a way that maintains jobs, socio-economic benefits and tax revenues in those communities.. Another key point to consider is that the majority of the existing, global coal fleet is just fourteen years old, representing a trillion dollars of unrecovered capital.
The prospect of the retirement of that fleet is highly unattractive for most of those owners and investors.However, if we repower the existing coal power plants with advanced heat sources instead of shutting them down, the plants will likely run at a much higher capacity factor than they do today and at lower cost.
This will make them even more profitable.
There will also be the potential to add other value driving services, such as atmospheric carbon removal, as well as hydrogen production with the cooling towers.This has increased insurance costs for mass timber construction.
It is common practice to solve the problem by enclosing timber for increased fire protection.Unfortunately, this generates additional carbon emissions and waste.. Another issue with glulam and CLT is the debonding of layers during a fire.
The glue can start evaporating at a relatively low temperature causing engineered timber to fall apart even before it burns.If the timber only chars, it might remain stable but may not be suitable for compartmentation as smoke can break through at joints.. Our response is to:.
(Editor: Basic Bins)