Unrelated items that cross a Monday morning mind:
GAS: With the change of administrations in Washington, D.C., it looks like natural gas-fired power plants are back on the menu.
The federal Energy Information Administration last week reported that developers plan to add 18.7 gigawatts (GW) of combined-cycle capacity to the grid by 2028, with 4.3 GW already under construction. For comparison, the coal-burning John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County, West Virginia, can produce about 2.9 GW.
ƵAlthough electricity generators fueled by natural gas have provided more electricity in the United States than any other source since 2016, hardly any new natural gas capacity came online last year,Ƶ the EIA said.
Natural gas has provided more electricity in the United States than any other source since 2016, but few new natural gas capacity came on line last year, according to the EIA. Most new capacity has come from renewable sources. That increase has been aided by decreasing construction costs, new battery storage and federal tax incentives and other policies that favor renewables, according to the EIA.
According to Power magazine, soaring electricity demand is behind the drive to add new gas-fired power to the grid Ƶ a trend that began in late 2023. But the drive to add more gas-burning power plants has led to problems in the supply chain. The demand for new gas turbines exceeds the nationƵs capacity to build them.
The drive to add new gas-fueled power generation began before President Donald Trump was elected, but his administration is definitely more friendly to fossil fuels (natural gas and coal) than the administration of former President Joe Biden. This bodes well for gas producers in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It doesnƵt bode well for coal produced in southern West Virginia, though. Coal-burning plants continue to shut down and be demolished, with no new ones to replace them.
READING: In my on-again off-again quest to read classic books IƵve postponed for years, I finished ƵThe Old Man and the SeaƵ a couple of weeks ago. It was a three-night read, with the first and third nights each consuming about half the book and the middle night being only five or six pages so I could digest what came before so I could enjoy the ending. I donƵt know about the stereotypes, the tropes and all that, but I can say that sometimes IƵm the old man and sometimes IƵm the fish.
Which book to read next? Maybe ƵAnimal FarmƵ again to see what I missed in previous readings. Or ƵThe Great Gatsby,Ƶ which I read decades ago and didnƵt appreciate. Suggestions?
Since Tom Wolfe and Michael Crichton died, IƵve not found modern authors whose work interests me. Does anyone else have this problem?
COMMAS: When I was talking to a journalism class at Marshall University a few years ago, I said trying to apply all the rules of how to use commas correctly will frustrate you to no end. When I read things in print and online, I wonder how many people even bother with trying to use commas correctly nowadays. At times it seems commas are used randomly, as if a writer feels guilty about not having used one yet.
GASOLINE: Conventional wisdom says the war between Israel and Iran should cause pump prices for gasoline to go up. Ƶ of this writing, they havenƵt. No complaints here.
