“Coal plants emit twice as much carbon as natural gas, and infinitely more carbon than wind, solar, nuclear and other zero-emissions sources of power” (Grunwald 2014).
This fact begs a question: is efficiency or safety more important? This nonrenewable resource is used to generate electricity and fuel the world’s technologies. The process of obtaining those results is when the question of whether the advantages of using coal as an energy source outweigh the disadvantages.
Coal is a valuable energy source. It has been around for a long time. Bright Hub Engineering even went as far to mention it “has been used as a major source of fuel even in ancient human civilizations.” One great advantage of coal is how long it has been used for energy. The technology is known and is constantly being advanced, whereas other energy sources may be still in the early days of efficiency due to lack of knowledge of the full mechanics. As well as familiarity, there is an abundance of coal which makes it cheap to process into fuel and get out of mines. Mining of coal in itself brings challenges, however.
It is no secret the dangers of mining coal for the workers or anything that may live in the area. The coal deposits them self can become volatile. Coal fires can produce easily and can be awful for the environment. They release a multitude of greenhouse gasses that increase global warming. The extraction of coal and the digging in the Earth can leave the land surrounding the mines unpredictable. The story of Aberfan in Wales proves this all too true. There was a coal mine, Merthyr Vale. It had been creating a soil tip of the minerals extracted near a junior school. Years later, the tip went over, and 111 feet of coal waste went racing toward the city of Pantglas and that school. It was a horrific tragedy with 144 deaths and 116 of them being children because of coal. Factors such as these above are what raise the question of coal’s need.
Elaborating, the disadvantages rely on the moral guide of humans. It all depends on whether the results of coal are worth the lives it costs, the dangers it poses to workers and those in the area, and the environmental effects it causes by protruding deadly amounts of greenhouse gasses. Once considering other resources for energy, for instance solar energy, once can find much safer sources which many less catastrophic effects. Coal simply is not worth it.
Sources:
Burton, Alice. “The True Story of the Aberfan Disaster in the Crown Season 3.” Vulture, Vulture, 20 Nov. 2019, www.vulture.com/2019/11/aberfan-disaster-the-crown-season-3.html. Accessed 19 Feb. 2021.
“Coal Explained – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).” Eia.gov, 2017,www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/#:~:text=Bituminous%20coal%20is%20the%20most,the%20iron%20and%20steel%20industry.. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.
“Coal Fired Plants: Pros and Cons.” Brighthubengineering.com, 27 Apr. 2011, www.brighthubengineering.com/power-plants/115683-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coal-for-power-plants/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2021.
Ohlson, Kristin. “Earth On Fire.” Discover, vol. 31, no. 6, July 2010, pp. 60–65. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=51508727.
This was a great essay, Diego! Super informative, well written, and an important topic.