[ExI] China and solar power

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> 
Subject: Re: [ExI] China and solar power

 

On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 7:33 PM <spike at rainier66.com <mailto:spike at rainier66.com> > wrote:

 

>>… That ballroom costs the taxpayer nothing.  Why would you be opposed to that? 

 

>…Because the list of people that are paying for You Know Who's stupid ballroom is being kept secret, and that is a fertile breeding ground for corruption….

 

The problem is corruption, not the ballroom.  So focus on catching the corruption, while cheering for the ballroom.

 

 

 

>> I oppose it too and agree it should be cancelled, not because I have anything against solar but because taxpayers shouldn’t be funding power projects. 

 

>… I say to hell with yesterday's outdated ideology and do whatever is necessary to beat China to the AI finish line. And that finish line is only three years away, maybe less. 

 

John K Clark

 

 

 

If we go that route, our best bet for power expansion is small coal-fired plants.  The technology for building those is in place, having changed little in over a century.  There are no materials shortages, they can be put in place quickly and they can even be built to emit almost no pollutants (now that it is no longer a pollutant.) 

 

https://azpha.org/2025/08/06/epa-decides-that-co%E2%82%82-isnt-a-danger-anymore-so-they-can-reverse-carbon-emission-standards/

 

China is building coal plants too.

 

https://www.carbonbrief.org/chinas-construction-of-new-coal-power-plants-reached-10-year-high-in-2024/

 

If you get a chance to tour a coal burning plant, notice how simple they are.  Modern coal burners are not as simple, for they are usually required by state or local environmental regulations to scrub the sulfur and carbon particulates and nitrous oxides from their products of combustion.  The technology to do this is well known.  Modern Diesel trucks do the same with Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF, that blue stuff you see in convenience stores) which scrubs nitrous oxides, then the black stuff is removed using the Diesel Particulate Filter.  With those systems, a coal plant can emit only carbon dioxide and water, neither of which are pollutants.

 

Carbon dioxide is still a pollutant in California, but it is not a pollutant in Nevada.  That means there is enormous profit potential in putting a bunch of coal plants along the state line in Nevada and carrying the low-cost generated power to ravenous wealthy power markets in California.

 

spike  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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