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Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 2:24 pm
I've been getting mail and calls about some politician that I shouldn't vote for, because he's trying to reduce the coal industry. I thought coal was like some outdated fuel source that's both hazardous to the environment and hazardous for the workers. I asked the guy that called me why we're even using coal, but he didn't really say much. He just wanted me to vote pro coal.
For some reason I thought we were beyond coal nowadays. Hell we're almost beyond oil, aren't we?
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 2:29 pm
(January 12, 2014 at 2:24 pm)Chad32 Wrote: For some reason I thought we were beyond coal nowadays. Hell we're almost beyond oil, aren't we? Nope.
Don't worry, in a few decades we'll be forced to move beyond oil and coal because it won't exist anymore.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Yeah, we'll run out in time. I'm pro renewable energy, though it's not perfect. I just thought that we didn't have coal factories and stuff anymore.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 2:33 pm
(January 12, 2014 at 2:32 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Yeah, we'll run out in time. I'm pro renewable energy, though it's not perfect. I just thought that we didn't have coal factories and stuff anymore.
Oh we have tons of coal factories. The world is mostly still on coal and nonrenewable fuels. China especially, last I checked, which was last year.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 2:36 pm
I wish we were beyond coal...
Coal is the least expensive energy source available.
If/when oil runs out, well be using coal.
Nuclear fission is being frowned upon, after Fukushima, so oil is being burnt more than ever and coal goes with it.
Even if nuclear wasn't being avoided, there isn't enough Uranium on the Earth's crust to last a long enough time...
Coal is indeed the worst environmental offender of the list of current energy sources, but, after a given level, economic pressures trump the environment and coal becomes the "best" option...
I surely hope the Nuclear Fusion group pulls through and delivers it as a viable option within the next 3 decades.
China is eager to implement this technology and they are the one country in the world with the most usage of coal... per capita.
[yeah, no citations, this is all from memory, so you google it]
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 2:38 pm
(This post was last modified: January 12, 2014 at 2:44 pm by Anomalocaris.)
Coal is cheap to mine (roughly half the price of natural gas for a given amount of energy output), stupendously plentiful (The US has enough to supply the world for 500 years, Russia and china has an like amount), and tend to occur in deposits in area of geopolitical stability near center of energy demand (US, Russia, china, Germany, Britain, etc).
Unless we move off of fossil fuel all together, coal is likely to outlast all other fossil fuel by a big margin. At present rate of consumption, oil and natural gas reserves might last another century even with fracking. At the end of that century the coal reserves would still be barely touched.
That's why regardless of its high greenhouse gas emission (roughly twice that of natural gas for given amount of energy output) it will like always be a remain a substantial part of the world's energy sources for a long time.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 12, 2014 at 3:37 pm
![[Image: 2013-11-29-193801eco.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=thepeopleproject.com%2Fcontent%2Fartworks%2Fquotes%2Fquotes%2F2013-11-29-193801eco.jpg)
'Nuff said.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 13, 2014 at 12:04 am
The Hunger Games are set way into the future, and they still mine coal then. So we'll obviously be needing coal for a long time.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 13, 2014 at 12:14 am
I've read articles talking about replacing nonrenewables with renewables and they had actual figures and calculations and how things are to be done, and they also took into account how much we can harvest with current technology. Mostly using solar and hydro power instead of nonrenewables along with some wind power, it honestly looked feasible. But it doesn't take political factors into account, needless to say.
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RE: Why are we still using coal?
January 13, 2014 at 12:29 am
Like it or not coal is cheap, And readily available. Which translates into affordable energy. If we stopped using coal only the rich could afford power. Until it gets more expensive than alternative power sources be thankful that we have coal.
There is a day coming that affordable energy sources will be scarce unless money somehow becomes obsolete.
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