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From Sourcewatch:
"From 1990 to 2009, the net capacity of the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet remained virtually unchanged, increasing by only 7 Gigawatts (MW) or 2.5% during the entire 17-year period. The output of these plants increased from 1990 to 2007 before falling in 2009. This means that although the existing fleet was not growing in size, plants were being run more intensively. This is reflected in the average capacity factor of the fleet, which rose from 59% to 74% from 1990 to 2007, then fell to 64% in 2009. (Capacity factor refers to the ratio of the actual output of a plant to the theoretical maximum output if the plant ran continuously.)"
Thus, we are approaching our limits. Soon we will have to open new power plants to meet our increasing demand. From a policy perspective, raising your hand to build a new power plant, coal, nuclear, or otherwise, is seldom met with more approval than opening a new landfill. Rather than open new plants, we have some interesting alternatives, including making improvements in our efficiency, which allows us to tap a source known by some in the community as "negawatts". CFLs were a great help in mining the vast available negawatt cache. There are more efficiencies to be discovered and we believe X-Lint is a strong, common-sense example of a pocket of negawatts to be mined immediately.
"From 1990 to 2009, the net capacity of the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet remained virtually unchanged, increasing by only 7 Gigawatts (MW) or 2.5% during the entire 17-year period. The output of these plants increased from 1990 to 2007 before falling in 2009. This means that although the existing fleet was not growing in size, plants were being run more intensively. This is reflected in the average capacity factor of the fleet, which rose from 59% to 74% from 1990 to 2007, then fell to 64% in 2009. (Capacity factor refers to the ratio of the actual output of a plant to the theoretical maximum output if the plant ran continuously.)"
Thus, we are approaching our limits. Soon we will have to open new power plants to meet our increasing demand. From a policy perspective, raising your hand to build a new power plant, coal, nuclear, or otherwise, is seldom met with more approval than opening a new landfill. Rather than open new plants, we have some interesting alternatives, including making improvements in our efficiency, which allows us to tap a source known by some in the community as "negawatts". CFLs were a great help in mining the vast available negawatt cache. There are more efficiencies to be discovered and we believe X-Lint is a strong, common-sense example of a pocket of negawatts to be mined immediately.