Burning Coal to Heat Private Homes on the Rise
Articles — By forcechange on December 27, 2008 3:45 pm
Apparently, the burning of coal is making a comeback as a source of heating fuel for private homes. In coal-rich regions of the Northeast, Midwest, and Alaska, homeowners have been choosing coal as their preferred home heating method in rising numbers in recent years. According to the Energy Information Administration, home coal use jumped by 9% in 2007 and 10% in the first eight months of 2008.
This rise is being attributed to the rising costs of traditional heating fuels such as natural gas and heating oil. For example, a ton of anthracite coal could cost as little as $120, while the equivalent amount of heating oil would cost around $380 and natural gas would cost around $480.
While coal is, of course, a major contributor to climate change, the use of coal in private homes is still so limited (around 200,000 households use it as a primary or secondary source of heat) that it has not been identified as a significant source of greenhouse gases.
Nonetheless, since coal-fired heaters are not regulated, they do contribute substantially to local particulate air pollution. Wood-fired heaters have long been recognized as a source of harmful particulates and have consequently faced regulations such as filters and restricted usage.
However, the real lesson of this trend is that coal is too cheap. Of course it is essential for people to have access to affordable heating sources–the same way it is essential for the country at-large to have access to affordable electricity. However, just because coal does not cost a lot of money to pull out of the ground and burn, does not mean that it is cheap. It is just that the costs of its use are borne by the surrounding people and planet. Whether it is a neighbor breathing in coal particulates in the air or the entire earth heating up, the main costs are paid by others. Until these costs are built into the price of coal, its use and consumption will continue to expand.
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What a load of “global warming” crap and scare tactics! If the author was even remotely interested in publishing the truth, he/she would have taken a whole ten minutes to do a Google search and found out that Anthracite or hard coal burns much cleaner than oil and approaches natural gas for emissions in today’s stoves.
As far as the author’s comment that “coal is to cheap”, well let him/her pay to heat a few people’s homes out of their own pocket and we’ll see how fast they change their tune.
Sorry global warming fanatics, but your myth has been busted wide open for the ponzi scheme that it is. BTW, the newest release of e-mails that’s just been called Climategate II really shows your agenda for what it is!