Nishi Singh
Primary energy sources take numerous elements, comprising of nuclear energy, fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas — and source renewable energy in India like wind, solar, geothermal, and hydrothermal. These central streams are transformed into electricity, a secondary power source, which surges through power cables and other transmission infrastructure to the residence and industries. These forces of nature are manipulated and harnessed to produce energy sources for our use. But they can be a threat to human life and end up doing more bad than good. When we talk about dangerous energy sources, Nuclear Power comes to mind first, bringing in horrid memories of the Chernobyl disaster. But guess again, Nuclear Power is statistically considered to be one of the safest sources. Instead, Coal, the Black Diamond, so to speak, is the most dangerous source of energy.
Coal is considered dangerous because of the varied impacts it has on the human population and the environment.
IMPACT ON HUMAN LIFE:
Coal kills millions of workers every year with a monopoly of awful legislation of mining procedures, inherent danger, and bronchus infesting dust. As many as 115,000 people perish in India every year because of coal-fired power plant pollution, amounting to the country about $4.6 billion, according to a groundbreaking recent study published. The conclusions are dramatic. In extension to more than 100,000 premature demises, it associates millions of outbreaks of asthma and respiratory disorders to coal susceptibility. It figures 10,000 children below the age of 5 as terrible casualties last year alone.
IMPACT ON AIR AND WATER POLLUTION:
When coal burns, it discharges several airborne poisons and pollutants. They comprise of mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, and various other heavy metals. Health consequences can run from asthma and breathing troubles to brain deterioration, heart issues, cancer, neurological ailments, and unexpected death. The equivalent is valid for coal-fired power plants, which generate more than 100 million tons of coal ash every year. Better than half of that waste turns out in oceans, lakes, trash yard, and other locales where, over time, it can tarnish waterways and potable water reserves.
Coal mining has likely to damage air, water, and land condition if it is not done with adequate care. Acidic water may seep from evacuated subterranean mines. “Clean coal” technology is starting to be cultivated to eliminate harmful elements before they can implicate the habitat, and to make it more energy-efficient, so limited Coal is burnt. The coal industry also renovates mined property or readies it for more efficient usages once surface mining is completed.
IMPACT ON GLOBAL WARMING:
Climate alteration is coal’s most dangerous, long-term, widespread consequence. Chemically, Coal is primarily carbon, which, when charred, reacts with oxygen in the air to generate carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping smoke. When discharged into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts as a cloak, heating the earth above ordinary limits. Effects of global warming include drought, sea-level increase, flooding, severe weather, and species casualty. The harshness of those consequences is tied presently to the percentage of carbon dioxide we dismiss, involving the coal plants.
So, why do we continue to use Coal?
Because Coal is a vital incumbent, it’s there by the millions of tons underground. Great corporations, supported by powerful authorities, frequently in the shape of allowances, are in a scramble to expand their demands before it is too late. Banks still profit from it. Large nationwide electricity grids were constructed for it. Coal plants can be a surefire means for politicians to provide economical electricity and maintain their sovereignty. In some nations, it has been a glistening basis of graft. And even while top renewable energy companies in India are working hard on it, they still have limitations: Wind and solar power ebb when the breeze hits, and the sun shines, and that employs conventional electricity grids to be retooled.
Nishi Singh is an experienced content marketing analyst at ETV Bharat. She has expertise in research based writing about politics, ideological influence of news media.
