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Strange, for the past 40 years I thought the obvious thing was to stop using coal to generate electricity. 40% of the world’s electricity is generated from coa

Strange, for the past 40 years I thought the obvious thing was to stop using coal to generate electricity. 40% of the world’s electricity is generated from coal, and the amount is increasing. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/08/germany-reactivate-coal-power-plants-russia-curbs-gas-flow https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/08/germany-reacti...

ZeroGravitas 4y ago
The percentage of coal electricity is slightly falling globally. In non-percentage terms it's still rising as electricity demand rises, particularly in China. This (non percentage) rise is forecast to peak around 2028 in China (and therefore the rest of the world) currently.
eloff 4y ago
I think future generations will look back and think we were morons for choosing coal over nuclear. The radiation from particulates released by burning coal actually kills more people each year than the radiation from nuclear accidents has ever killed. Plus we also made a nice little climate change disaster on our little space ship Earth that's hurling through the Milky Way.
- Atheb 4y ago
  No need for future generations. Lots of people in this current generation think it's an absolutely poor idea to choose coal over nuclear.
  - throwaway33175 4y ago
    How moronic would it be, when the actual solution, renewable energy sources, are not even discussed? Choosing nuclear energy bears the same moronic behavior. It's unsustainable and, compared to coal, we have much less options handling it's waste on a much larger time scale. "Not beeing able to handle the waste" is the same problem category and nobody cares. This is not just short-sightedness, it's also a propagandistic master piece. Decades of a lacking energy transition plan and now, when the situation gets more dire, the debate goes between non-solution A and non-solution B. But at least we have status quo going for _us_.
    - eloff 4y ago
      Renewables weren't an option in those days. They've only recently started to become viable, and are not really viable at scale until the energy storage solution can also be solved at a combined cost equivalent to coal or nuclear. I do think it will get there, but it's not fair to look back at the last 70 years and say why didn't we do more renewables.
YorickPeterse 4y ago
That doesn't mean it's not obvious to stop wasting even more energy on cryptocurrency scams. While it's not going to undo the waste that existed before, it might help to prevent it from getting even worse.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

The percentage of coal electricity is slightly falling globally. In non-percentage terms it's still rising as electricity demand rises, particularly in China. This (non percentage) rise is forecast to peak around 2028 in China (and therefore the rest of the world) currently.

eloff 4y ago

I think future generations will look back and think we were morons for choosing coal over nuclear. The radiation from particulates released by burning coal actually kills more people each year than the radiation from nuclear accidents has ever killed. Plus we also made a nice little climate change disaster on our little space ship Earth that's hurling through the Milky Way.

Atheb 4y ago
No need for future generations. Lots of people in this current generation think it's an absolutely poor idea to choose coal over nuclear.
- throwaway33175 4y ago
  How moronic would it be, when the actual solution, renewable energy sources, are not even discussed? Choosing nuclear energy bears the same moronic behavior. It's unsustainable and, compared to coal, we have much less options handling it's waste on a much larger time scale. "Not beeing able to handle the waste" is the same problem category and nobody cares. This is not just short-sightedness, it's also a propagandistic master piece. Decades of a lacking energy transition plan and now, when the situation gets more dire, the debate goes between non-solution A and non-solution B. But at least we have status quo going for _us_.
  - eloff 4y ago
    Renewables weren't an option in those days. They've only recently started to become viable, and are not really viable at scale until the energy storage solution can also be solved at a combined cost equivalent to coal or nuclear. I do think it will get there, but it's not fair to look back at the last 70 years and say why didn't we do more renewables.

YorickPeterse 4y ago

That doesn't mean it's not obvious to stop wasting even more energy on cryptocurrency scams. While it's not going to undo the waste that existed before, it might help to prevent it from getting even worse.