摘要: |
Plentiful natural gas and negative publicity concerning coal's adverse impact on the environment has led to the closing of a number of coal facilities in the U.S. over the past 10 years. Consequently, volumes of coal have fallen off during that same time period. Gulf Power's Plant Christ in Pensacola, Fla., suffered substantial damage from Hurricane Sally last year. But instead of simply repairing the facility, Gulf Power converted the plant from coal to natural gas, renaming it Gulf Clean Energy Center. "The modernization involves converting coal-burning units to run on natural gas and adding four new combustion turbines to provide greater reliability and efficiency for the energy grid," according to the website Daily Energy Insider. "There will also be a new natural gas pipeline to provide additional natural gas for the plant. Gulf Clean Energy Center carbon emission rates will be reduced by 40 percent by converting from coal. It will also reduce operating costs for customers." |