Rising
environmental and health concerns associated with the consumption of coal have
pushed energy producers to opt for natural gas, but is the shift sustainable?
The consumption of coal has grown rapidly
in the past decade due to strong demand from both developing and developed
countries. However, this is a major source of concern for environmentalists and
climatologists, who warn that the combustion of coal releases harmful
greenhouse gases which can exacerbate global warming and environmental
pollution.
James Hensen, a climate scientist at
NASA, has gone so far as to say that coal is the single greatest threat to
human civilization and all life on the planet. He may have a point: according
to a 2010 study conducted by Conrad Schneider and Jonathan Banks, coal plant
emissions cause approximately 10,000 hospitalizations, more than 20,000 heart
attacks, and 13,000 premature deaths every year in the US. Read
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