[ExI] Trump Is Obsessed With Oil, but Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World

[John Clark]

On Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 9:50 PM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

*> Coal plants are not at all complicated.  All the equipment to make those
> go are with us.*


*Because of advances in technology, coal is no longer an economically
competitive way of producing electrical energy.  *

*A **new new coal power plant would produce electrical energy at a
cost between $69 and $169 per megawatt-hour.*

*Wind costs $27 to $53 per MWh.
<https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-clears-way-for-new-york-offshore-wind-project-handing-industry-another-victory-against-trump>*

*Solar costs between $38 to $78 per megawatt-hour. *

*Natural gas turbines between $48 to $109.*

*John K Clark*





>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Trump Is Obsessed With Oil, but Chinese Batteries Will
> Soon Run the World
>
> ": a big Diesel loco can produce 4 MW each."
>
> >...Spike, do you have any idea of what it would take to connect those
> locomotives to the grid?
>
> I wasn't proposing to connect them to a grid.  That is the strength of
> that idea.  The power would only be used to run microprocessors.
>
> >...Some of them even make DC...
>
> DC is what we want for microprocessors.  We want to push a lot of current
> up to a small voltage.
>
> >...There are reasons, particularly economic, why oil was phased out of
> power production 40 years ago.  If you want more power rapidly, the least
> expensive way is gas turbines burning natural gas.  That's what Musk did in
> Memphis to the dismay of the locals...
>
> Gas turbines are good too.
>
> Where I was going with it is that the big Diesels are available now, and
> the demand for power is now.
>
> >..."Coal plants can be brought online faster"
>
> >...I don't know if the skills exist here anymore...
>
> Coal plants are not at all complicated.  All the equipment to make those
> go are with us.  The turbines are the same regardless of what heat source
> is boiling the water.
>
> >...Might get the Chinese to build them if you absolutely insist on coal
> and can get the permits.
>
> Keith
>
> Keith I really think we can figure out how to make coal fired boilers.
> That technology hasn't changed much in 100 years.  They filter the soot out
> of the exhaust now, and I think they neutralize the NOx, but the process
> can be fired up quickly enough I would think.  There may even be idled coal
> burners which can be fired up.  I toured on in Trona California which I
> think is currently idle because of California emissions restrictions, which
> do not apply in Nevada.
>
> What I don't know is how the SCOTUS Chevron Decision of June 2024 would
> impact the process.  One might think it would speed it up.
>
> spike
>
>
>
>
>
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