Why Do We Still Mine Coal?
Mining coal is a dangerous business as this report from South Wales shows.
Our mines are safe compared to some. This report in the Guardian from 2009, says that in 2008, over 3,000 miners died in China.
So why do we do it, when burning fossil fuels are the major creator of greenhouse gases, that cause global warming? If you look at the science, to get the same amount of energy from coal and natural gas, you get forty percent more CO2 if you burn coal. It’s all because coal is pure carbon, whereas natural gas contains a lot of hydrogen atoms, which on combustion produce nothing but water.
You also get a lot of other pollution when you burn coal. Let’s face it, coal is a very dirty fuel.
One of the biggest mistakes we made in this country was not to get rid of coal mines, steam trains and coal-fired power stations a lot earlier.
The first real modern electrification of rail lines in the UK, were the Liverpool and Manchester lines, which were completed in the mid-1960s. It is totally crazy that only now, we’re still planning the electrification to Bristol and South Wales from London. It should have been done by 1970.
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