Question: will we always use coal

Hazel Gibson answered on 14 Mar 2018:

I really hope not. Coal is one of the worst polluting fossil fuels, not least because of the emissions when we burn it to produce electricity, but also in terms of mining it and then transporting it to the power plants. But it is cheap and easy to understand how it works, so a lot of countries still rely on it, instead of developing newer, cleaner, but more expensive energy resources. Having said that I am still always disappointed when I remember that the UK still has 8 (soon to be 7) coal fired power stations, when we could have moved on from this fuel. Even oil and gas are better for the environment! So it’s hard to say other countries should try and use different energy resources when we can’t even do it. However it is predicted that the last of our coal fired power stations should close by 2025 (fingers crossed), but even then it’s unlikely that coal will be completely gone, as some people still use it for their fireplaces.