Is it true that for every kilowatt of electricity that is used the power plants produce 2 pounds of smoke?

Question

Is it true that for every kilowatt of electricity that is used the power plants produce 2 pounds of smoke?

Answer 1

So what if it does ! I see your on your computer making smoke.

Answer 2

56.3% of statistics are made up on the spot. It sounds as if this is where the "2 pounds" came from.

Actually, a lot depends on the "fuel" for generation of the electricity. Tidal, wind, water, and nuclear energy produce no smoke at all. (The stack emissions from nuclear plants are water vapor.) Fossil fuels can produce smoke but modern plants get rid of it.

Answer 3

most coal plants are equiped with scrubbers these days I think.  These use a water spray/mist to take the pollution out of the exhaust of the plant.  

So that might not necesarily be true.

Answer 4

First thing:  your units are wrong.  "Kilowatt" is like "horsepower"; it isn't a quantity, it's a rate.  You can burn a gallon of gasoline in an engine making 5 horsepower or 500 horsepower; it'll just burn 100 times faster in the bigger engine.  You ought to be specifying a quantity.  In this case you probably mean kilowatt-HOUR, or kWh.

Second:  There are some powerplants which make no smoke at all, even some combustion plants.  Therefore, the literal answer to the question is "no".

If you mean carbon dioxide instead of smoke, the answer is "approximately yes" given the USA's mix of powerplants.

Answer 5

You mean kilowatt hours?  That's different to kilowatts.

Power plants don't produce visible smoke.  Do you mean CO2 instead of smoke?

If so, 2 pounds is about right.but it varies according to how the electricity is generated.