{"id":11642,"date":"2021-03-17T10:35:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T15:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=11642"},"modified":"2021-03-17T10:40:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T15:40:35","slug":"is-coal-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2021\/03\/17\/is-coal-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Coal Worth It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\u201cCoal plants emit twice as much carbon as natural gas, and infinitely more carbon than wind, solar, nuclear and other zero-emissions sources of power\u201d (Grunwald 2014)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This fact begs\u00a0<\/span>a question: is<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>efficiency or safety more important?\u00a0<\/span>This nonrenewable resource\u00a0<\/span>is used to generate electricity and fuel the world\u2019s technologies. The\u00a0<\/span>process of obtaining those results is when the question of whether the advantages of using coal as an energy source outweigh the disadvantages.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coal is a valuable energy source. I<\/span>t has been around for a long time.\u00a0<\/span>Bright Hub Engineering\u00a0<\/span>even went as far to mention it<\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>has been used as a major source of fuel even in ancient human civilizations.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0One\u00a0<\/span>great\u00a0<\/span>advantage of coal is\u00a0<\/span>how long it has been used for energy. The<\/span>\u00a0technology 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<\/span>\u00a0full mechanics.\u00a0<\/span>As well as familiarity, there is an abundance of coal which makes it c<\/span>heap to process into fuel and get out of mines.\u00a0<\/span>Mining of coal\u00a0<\/span>in itself brings<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>challenges,<\/span>\u00a0however.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is no secret the dangers of mining coal<\/span>\u00a0for the workers or<\/span>\u00a0anything<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that may<\/span>\u00a0live in the area.\u00a0<\/span>The coal deposits them self can become volatile. Coal fires can produce easily and can be awful for the environment.\u00a0<\/span>They release a multitude of greenhouse gasses that increase global warming.\u00a0<\/span>The extraction of coal and the digging in the Earth can leave the land surrounding the mines unpredictable.\u00a0<\/span>The story of Aberfan in Wales proves this all too true. There was a coal min<\/span>e,\u00a0<\/span>Merthyr<\/span>\u00a0Vale. It had been creating a soil tip of the minerals extracted near a ju<\/span>nior school. Years la<\/span>ter, the tip went\u00a0<\/span>over,<\/span>\u00a0and 111 feet of coal waste went racing toward the city of\u00a0<\/span>Pantglas<\/span>\u00a0and that school. It was a horrific\u00a0<\/span>tragedy<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>with 144 deaths and 116 of them\u00a0<\/span>being<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>children<\/span>\u00a0because of coal. Factors such as these above are what raise the question of coal\u2019s need.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elaborating, the disadvantages rely on the moral guide of humans.\u00a0<\/span>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,<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>the environmental\u00a0<\/span>effects it causes by protruding deadly amounts of greenhouse\u00a0<\/span>gasses.\u00a0<\/span>Once considering other resources for energy, for instance solar energy, once can find much safer sources which many less catastr<\/span>ophic effects. Coal simply is not worth it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sources:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burton, Alice. \u201cThe True Story of the Aberfan Disaster in the Crown Season 3.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Vulture<\/span><\/i>, Vulture, 20 Nov. 2019, www.vulture.com\/2019\/11\/aberfan-disaster-the-crown-season-3.html. Accessed\u00a0<\/span>19\u00a0<\/span>Feb. 2021.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCoal Explained – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Eia.gov<\/span><\/i>, 2017,www.eia.gov\/energyexplained\/coal\/#:~:text=Bituminous%20coal%20is%20the%20most,the%20iron%20and%20steel%20industry.. Accessed <\/span>18<\/span>\u00a0Feb. 2021.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCoal Fired Plants: Pros and Cons.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Brighthubengineering.com<\/span><\/i>, 27 Apr. 2011, www.brighthubengineering.com\/power-plants\/115683-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-coal-for-power-plants\/. Accessed 2<\/span>2<\/span>\u00a0Feb. 2021.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ohlson, Kristin. \u201cEarth\u00a0On\u00a0Fire.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Discover<\/span><\/i>, vol. 31, no. 6, July 2010, pp. 60\u201365.\u00a0<\/span>EBSCOhost<\/span><\/i>, search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=51508727.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCoal plants emit twice as much carbon as natural gas, and infinitely more carbon than wind, solar, nuclear and other zero-emissions sources of power\u201d (Grunwald 2014).\u00a0 This fact begs\u00a0a question: is\u00a0efficiency or safety more important?\u00a0This nonrenewable resource\u00a0is used to generate electricity and fuel the world\u2019s technologies. The\u00a0process of obtaining those results is when the question … Continue reading “Is Coal Worth It?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[204,200,201,202,203],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11709,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642\/revisions\/11709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}