Archinect - News

Gas-fired power plants are becoming obsolete

2019-06-24T13:28:00-04:00

General Electric Co said on Friday it plans to demolish a large power plant it owns in California this year after only one-third of its useful life because the plant is no longer economically viable in a state where wind and solar supply a growing share of inexpensive electricity.

GE's Inland Empire Energy Center, a 750-megawatt natural gas-fueled plant located in Riverside County, California, built in 2009 is shutting down 20 years early.

The culprit? Affordable wind and solar energy, which are surging in California, and outdated technology.

On most days, California generates roughly 50% of its energy from renewable sources, with new records set every few weeks. See here for an up-to-the-minute breakdown of where California's energy comes from.

The trend is a long-term one, as California has pledged to eliminate fossil fuels in its energy supply by 2045, and recently met its 2020 emissions and renewable energy goals several years early. That's bad news for natural gas- and coal-fired power plants.

A moment-in-time breakdown of California's energy sources from Monday, June 24, 2019. Image courtesy of California's Independent System Operator.

A representative from GE told Reuters, “We have made the decision to shut down operation of the Inland Empire Power P...

Editor's Picks #254

2012-03-11T22:49:00-04:00

Viennese architectural firm Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH won the First Prize in an international competition that seeks to overhaul the campus of the Angewandte, a group of buildings that house the University of Applied Arts, as well as the Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. johnszot commented "fucking hot, that".

Evan Chakroff writes about the work of the recent Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu suggesting the selection continues a trend in which "the Pritzker Committee has gravitated towards architects who produce work with an innate understanding of place, allowing their ties to local culture to infuse their work" in the essay Amateur Architecture: A New Vernacular?

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In advance of the World Cup and Olympic Games authorities in Rio de Janeiro are clearing people from their homes in Vila Autódromo and other favelas, preparing the areas for redevelopment. Will Galloway believed "it would be cool if they followed the lead of medellin instead. i have not heard any complaints about what was done there. anyone know if there was a downside?"