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Catching up to London in the 1930s...or was it 1950s? Burning lots of coal in dated power stations next to a city is a bad idea for the residents health.

by brc 12y ago

pjc50 12y ago
Until 1983: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Power_Station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Power_Station Edit: I don't understand the downvotes; my point is that the last coal-fired powerstation in London was closed a lot more recently than people might think.
- mikeash 12y ago
  Or Washington, DC until 2012: http://www.prgsonline.org/ http://www.prgsonline.org/ Not that it's even remotely comparable. DC's air quality in 2012 was still unimaginably better than Beijing's. (I say this having experienced both.) But still, these things can move slowly.
- arethuza 12y ago
  That was a pretty interesting link - I had no idea of the explanation as to why Battersea power station was that shape! There was a quite large coal fired power station operating close to Edinburgh until very recently (2013): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockenzie_power_station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockenzie_power_station
  - pjc50 12y ago
    Yup, although that's not nearly as "in" the city as Battersea. Every time someone mentions wind turbines "spoiling the view", I show them a photo taken looking along Portobello beach. In the far distance a few white single-pixel turbines are visible. In the medium distance is Cockenzie, which is on the seaside and visible from miles around.
illumen 12y ago
The coal in China was killing around 300,000 people per year directly. The deadly particles in London are now mostly invisible. If you live in London you'll die 20 years earlier. Great city, but I'm glad I'm not there any more. I used to hate having a nose full of black coming out of the northern line. London is rated as having the worst air pollution in Europe. They say about 50,000 people die per year in the UK because of bad air quality. There's still some coal stations near cities in the UK though... even one near London. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Existing_UK_coal-fired_power_stations http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Existing_UK_coal-fired_...
- teach-me 12y ago
  How polluted are the rest of the big cities in England, e.g. Manchester? 20 years seems way too much, I doubt people in a clean country get to die e.g. in the their 90s on average, while Londoners perish in their 70s. I saw an EU study a few months ago claiming the most polluted monitored place in the 28 EU states is the town of Pernik in Bulgaria and Sofia is the most polluted capital ( it's in Bulgaria as well).

Catching up to London in the 1930s...or was it 1950s? Burning lots of coal in dated power stations next to a city is a bad idea for the residents health.

by brc 12y ago

Catching up to London in the 1930s...or was it 1950s? Burning lots of coal in dated power stations next to a city is a bad idea for the residents health.

pjc50 12y ago

Until 1983: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Power_Station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Power_Station Edit: I don't understand the downvotes; my point is that the last coal-fired powerstation in London was closed a lot more recently than people might think.

mikeash 12y ago
Or Washington, DC until 2012: http://www.prgsonline.org/ http://www.prgsonline.org/ Not that it's even remotely comparable. DC's air quality in 2012 was still unimaginably better than Beijing's. (I say this having experienced both.) But still, these things can move slowly.
arethuza 12y ago
That was a pretty interesting link - I had no idea of the explanation as to why Battersea power station was that shape! There was a quite large coal fired power station operating close to Edinburgh until very recently (2013): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockenzie_power_station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockenzie_power_station
- pjc50 12y ago
  Yup, although that's not nearly as "in" the city as Battersea. Every time someone mentions wind turbines "spoiling the view", I show them a photo taken looking along Portobello beach. In the far distance a few white single-pixel turbines are visible. In the medium distance is Cockenzie, which is on the seaside and visible from miles around.

illumen 12y ago

The coal in China was killing around 300,000 people per year directly. The deadly particles in London are now mostly invisible. If you live in London you'll die 20 years earlier. Great city, but I'm glad I'm not there any more. I used to hate having a nose full of black coming out of the northern line. London is rated as having the worst air pollution in Europe. They say about 50,000 people die per year in the UK because of bad air quality. There's still some coal stations near cities in the UK though... even one near London. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Existing_UK_coal-fired_power_stations http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Existing_UK_coal-fired_...

teach-me 12y ago
How polluted are the rest of the big cities in England, e.g. Manchester? 20 years seems way too much, I doubt people in a clean country get to die e.g. in the their 90s on average, while Londoners perish in their 70s. I saw an EU study a few months ago claiming the most polluted monitored place in the 28 EU states is the town of Pernik in Bulgaria and Sofia is the most polluted capital ( it's in Bulgaria as well).