With climate change looming, it seems so completely backwards to go back to using it again.
Is it coal miners pushing to keep their jobs? Fear of nuclear power? Is purely politically motivated, or are there genuinely people who believe coal is clean?
Edit, I will admit I was ignorant to the usage of coal nowadays.
Now I’m more depressed than when I posted this
Will renewables ever be viable in countries like the UK or Ireland, where there isn’t actually a whole lot of land for things like solar and wind?
Wind turbines can be located off shore. Energy can also be harvested from wave action.
Renewables are already viable in the UK and making up an ever increasing percentage of electricity generation. Additionally, the time when it’s windiest in the UK is also the time when electricity demand is at its highest.
Using coal for electricity in the UK is now rare. Coal only made up 1.5% of electricity generation in the UK in 2022. Just ten years ago coal generation was nearly half.
There’s tons of land for wind in the UK, the issue is Nimbys that don’t want them spoiling their view.
And it kills birds despite household cats being genocidal murderers.
Studies show that wind turbines kill a fraction of a percentage of the total bird population. Not ideal, but ultimately negligible.