John E. Amos Power Plant is a three-unit coal-fired power plant owned and operated by Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP). With a nameplate rating of 2,933 MW, it is the largest generating plant in the AEP system. It was named after John E. Amos, a prominent state senator, Democratic National Committee member from West Virginia, and member of the AEP board of directors.
The hottest year on record is coming to a close, emissions of planet-warming gases are still rising globally, and the most ambitious climate goal set by world leaders is all but impossible to meet, according to a new analysis by the United Nations.
The annual report from the U.N. Environment Programme lays out how far behind the world is on controlling planet-warming pollution, most of which comes from burning oil, gas and coal.
1) Grid power supplies single phase, 120 or 240 volt AC power at 60 hz
2) That power is run through diodes to create 120 volt or 240 volt direct current
3) A microprocessor connected to three sets of IGBTs (essentially high power transistors) switches them on an off to create three phase power at a variable frequency
4) The three phase, variable frequency AC electricity drives a three phase motor – no losses from shaded poles or starting coils – or coasting between the two poles
5) By varying the frequency of the AC, you vary the speed of the AC motor efficiently
6) Also, you can have smaller coils if you drive the motor at a higher frequency then gear the motor down for power and speed desired
To which I often get response that fossil fuels aren’t chemically addicting, they don’t change the brain’s chemistry, re-wiring it to crave more and more of them. But is that true? There is a lot of evidence that humans become as addicted to fossil fuels as opioids and that the behavior around fossil fuels is very similar to a person who is addicted to heroin, although fossil fuel addiction is much more socially acceptable.
Humans crave speed, warmth, and light — especially colorful lights. Our fossil fuel society makes such things very possible and easy to access. How to make people happier? Go faster, make it more comfortable, make it more bright and colorful.
Fossil fuel production and consumption is an enormous part of our economy. The average household spends $1,977 a year on gasoline alone. Is that amount of money spent to incinerate refined dinosaur bones, a largely non-sensible activity, is a classic sign of an addiction.
Most people are in denial that they have a problem with fossil fuels and energy consumption more generally. They often dismiss how much energy they consume, they make excuses that it is necessary for modern living. People often react strongly when their utility rates or gas prices go up, or efforts are made to restrict motoring by reducing the number of lanes on roads or parking spaces.
Addicts often engage in bizarre behavior when they high. Not only are people likely to defend oil and gas development in terrible places, they’re much too willing to accept climate change, as the price of fossil-fuel freedom. Wasting energy is totally acceptable, if it makes us happy.
How do people plan to address the climate crisis? Usually it involves building industrial wind turbines and large solar farms, and switching to electric cars. Conservation is often pushed to margins of debate. And lifestyle change is dismissed as being impractical. People — at least on paper — want to address climate change by driving to Walmart in electric car.
