Why is Coal-Fired Power Production So Inefficient?

The EPA has been regulating coal-fired power production and setting air pollution standards for decades.  Many of the regulations have contributed to power plant inefficiency.

Many types of power plants produce steam that is used to turn a turbine that drives a large generator.  The steam may be produced by burning coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, etc.  The nuclear power plants also heat water to produce steam.  Hydroelectric power plants obviously need water to operate.  Consequently, you can't just plop down a power plant anywhere you want to use electricity.  You need a body of water.

The Ohio River makes the southern boundary of Ohio and runs right by downtown Cincinnati.  Coal-fired power plants are strung all along the length of the Ohio River.  There is plenty of coal from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio to fuel these plants economically.  In fact, rail cars transport the coal to the Ohio River, and barges are used to take it to the plants.

As you travel along the river from Pittsburgh to Huntington, WV to Cincinnati to Louisville, there pockets of heavy power usage where there are cities and steel mills and aluminum mills, etc.  Of course, the Cincinnati metropolitan area is a place with a heavy concentration of power usage.  So, why are the power plants located out in the middle of nowhere?  They are in Rabbit Hash, KY or Manchester, OH or New Richmond, OH.  Why?  Could it be that the EPA has air quality standards that discourage building power plants in a large metropolitan area?

If power plants were placed in areas where a lot of power is consumed, the transmission line losses would be minimized.  You also wouldn't need as many voltage transformations to step up to high line voltages for long distance transmission.

In addition, the waste heat might be usable near the plant.  What if the power company could take the waste steam that is dumped back into the river today and use it?  How about using that steam to run through heating coils in buildings in downtown Cincinnati in the cold months of the year?  What if manufacturing was done in the area of the power plant, and a paper mill needed hot steam to breakdown the cellulose fibers?  Could the boiling water be used to sterilize bottles in a beverage plant?  What would the efficiency look like in a coal-fired power plant if the waste steam was sold to nearby businesses?  What would happen to the cost of electricity and heat to the electricity consumer?  Here's the million dollar question:  when the EPA discouraged building power plants in major metropolitan areas, did that make the air cleaner or dirtier?

The public utility commissions also play a role in this MessAPolitico.  The power companies don't have any incentive to make the power plants more efficient.  If their costs rise, they just go back to the commission and ask for a rate increase.  When they prove that costs have gone up, voila, they get a rate increase.  The consumer pays for the cost increase.  The utility company has a guaranteed profit margin.

You know, the power companies are regulated by these public utility commissions that were put in place to protect the consumers from monopolistic market conditions.  It would be pretty difficult for you to shop around to get the best price on electricity.  Do you want two sets of power cables supplying electricity to your neighborhood?  Would it cost less if there were two or more sets of infrastructure to deliver the power everywhere?  No.

So what would happen if we didn't have these public utility commissions out there protecting our interests?  Would the electric company jack up your electric rates?  Would they double or triple or more?  Probably not.  What would you do if the electric company rates were a whole lot higher?  In the short run, you'd have to pay it, but when your furnace wore out, you could buy a gas furnace.  When the stove needed to be replaced, you would buy a gas stove.  Your new dryer and water heater would use natural gas.  The local natural gas supplier would be the competition.  Of course, you could also use a solar water heater or buy a geothermal heat pump to reduce electric usage.

All of this would work better if the government wasn't sticking its fingers all in the pie.  Not only do they regulate the production of power and the price of electricity, but they also are messing with natural gas and oil and everything else.  You can't drill for oil or natural gas here.  You can't build a pipeline over there.  You can't use hydraulic fracturing.  You can't build a refinery.  Blah, blah, blah...

Once again, the MessAPolitico was put in place to protect you from the evils of capitalism and greedy, polluting business.  The problem is, that the regulations raise the price and make the pollution worse.  Leave it to our government bureaucrats to mess everything up.  Is it legal for the EPA to issue regulations?  What are regulations?  Aren't they just laws?  I thought the constitution said that laws were to be written by the legislative branch of the federal government.  That branch of government was supposed to be elected by the people to represent our views.  Instead, we have unelected bureaucrats legislating.  I consider regulations like these to be unconstitutional.  They are hurting our economy!  They are hurting us!  Stop the MessAPolitico!  Now!