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Why has the world started to mine coal again? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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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

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[โ€“] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Because renewable energy and nuclear energy require significant capital investment, which the private sector and governments in the age of 'fiscal discipline' are not willing to make.

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  • [โ€“] 8 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Renewables (solar and wind) are actually the cheapest forms of electricity generation (see Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy report). This has been true since at least the 2016 version of the report, and it is true even when the cost of generation is not subsidized with government funding.

    This is why Texas is investing so much in building new wind turbines, even though they're not politically inclined toward "green energy" - the cost per MWh is lowest.

    This is also affecting nuclear power projects. The cost of wind and solar has dropped to the point where building new nuclear power plants looks financially irresponsible.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Can we just... Cull all old people, start fresh? Make some new laws that aren't based on ideologies from the year 1910?

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  • [โ€“] 14 points 2 years ago*

    Old people aren't really the problem, capitalists are

    I'm going to assume that you're being facetious when you talk about "culling" them (otherwise that's pretty concerning). many old people are annoying, many of them are downright hostile to any progress whatsoever, but they, and the viewpoints they hold, are the symptoms of a much larger problem.

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