Are you for or against coal burning?

[GatherGreen]

Coal has been used as an energy source for centuries, but because of it's environmental impact, it's essential we use an alternative energy source. In his documentary, Burning the Future: Coal in America, Director David Novack explores the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Last week Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were in W. Virginia covering this issue.

Please join us for a live chat on Gather.com with David Novack, Wednesday May 21st @ 4PM. Click here to leave a question.

[forfismum]

I like coal/Coal and nuclear are our salvation.

[brianidaho]

I'm a big fan of coal. When you flip that little switch on the wall it's kind of nice to have the lights come on.

[forfismum]

Question for our pregnant female lady members.

While watching TV and getting fatter by the minute,which would prefer to chew on:
A a windmill
B the solar panel on the roof
C a nice handy-dandy coal nugget.

[spadlet]

Originally Posted by forfismum

Question for our pregnant female lady members.

While watching TV and getting fatter by the minute,which would prefer to chew on:
A a windmill
B the solar panel on the roof
C a nice handy-dandy coal nugget.

I think you might want to start a new thread for that poll, but I dont know how you'd restrict the voting to female pregnant forum members.

[Karl]

I just read that coal is used to generate ~30% of electricity in Europe, ~50% in the US and ~67% in China. (Coal to remain energy 'backbone')

While I am not disputing or denying the adverse effects on the environment, of coal mining and use, I wonder whether some of these "green cyber-warriors" on the anti-coal bandwagon consider the amount of coal-related carbon footprint they have with their internet campaigns. I mean, what do they think generates the electricity for their blogs and websites, not only where they live, but also in all the countries all over the world where they hope people will read their messages (and be inspired to renounce their coal-corrupted lifestyle).

[kev67]

I'm for it as long as they capture and sequester the carbon dioxide. They have the technology but apparently not the finance.

[MarkuisMellvile]

Why can't some coal use in the medium term be part of the accepted mixture of energy technologies used to provide power? Undeniably, the use of coal as an energy fuel (perhaps a pregnancy aid too) has been key to the industrialisation of the world in which we live. We won't simply stop mining it overnight, nor because most people accept that we have to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels altogether.

I'm not keen on sequestration (Carbon Capture and Storage) as a justification for continuing to invest in dirty technology though. Not because I share the fears of some about catastrpohic ruptures of geological voids - which would instantaneously release large volumes of gas into the atmosphere. I work in low energy building design and have a very broad view of the range of technologies we can access for heat, cooling and power. Coal does not feature in our thinking, except that its decline will be guided by the cost of investing in dinosaur technology or any other energy system.

We should all work towards an energy infrastructure where the skills of miners and steel manufacturing and fabrication are applied in producing non-fossil turbines, engine technologies and renewable energy systems - not lost!

MM

[forfismum]

Originally Posted by MarkuisMellvile

Why can't some coal use in the medium term be part of the accepted mixture of energy technologies used to provide power?

Thats the way to go and remember that coal can be a source of oil for years to come.

We should all work towards an energy infrastructure where the skills of miners and steel manufacturing and fabrication are applied in producing non-fossil turbines, engine technologies and renewable energy systems - not lost!

MM

Just as long as we are talking water turbines My distaste for wind is mainly that it is not reliable,never will be,and is so bloody unsightly in the form of windfactories.As for skills,its late in the day to start worrying on that score,we have lost so much .

[akari_mizunashi]

I am not for coal burning. It puts out more carbon than any other fossil fuel. Plus, even the way it is harvested is harmful: strip mining, which is easier to do than underground mining and so is becoming more prevalent, destroys huge amounts of land. Forfisimum's comment that "coal and nuclear are our salvation" makes little sense to me. I could maybe understand the nuclear part, since nuclear puts out virtually no carbon and so is an ideal fuel for combatting global warming, but coal has the downsides of nuclear without its benefits: a coal power plant puts out more radiation than an equally-sized nuclear power plant.