United Kingdom Fossil-Fuel Gone in Five Years!

Direct mining of coal is never likely to be competitive – it wasn’t 40 years ago. But extracting the energy in other ways might be where the future lies or at least one of a variety of energy sources.

We have enormous amounts of coal in this Country but no one willing to dig it out at an economic price…

No one is ‘willing’ to make it economic?

The truth is British coal is either economic or it isn’t; the only way you could ‘make’ it economic is to subsidise it.

Would you be willing to pay more for your electricity to subsidise British coal? The government could, of course, subsidise it (or continue to subsidise it, or subsidise it to a greater degree; whichever it true today) but that would mean more taxation on the consumer, or some of the consumers (but maybe not you or me).

Maybe your energy supplier imports cheaper coal from China or Turkey; nobody wants to pay more for their electricity than they have to but some of this ‘cheaper’ coal comes at a terrible price. Maybe your energy supplier imports coal from vast (economic) open-cast mines in Australia, America or Africa; mines that will always out-perform British deep-pits?

Yes it is, Paul.

Having little scientific knowledge is this the same as your link charlie?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10518072/UKs-next-offshore-energy-fortune-lies-in-coal.html

http://www.bcgenergy.co.uk/about-bcg-energy/releasing-the-potential-of-ucg/

We have enormous amounts of coal in this Country but no one willing to dig it out at an economic price

Ah my hobby horse!! – so perhaps I’ll refrain from riding it yet again……;)

Didn’t Britain operate the world’s first commercial nuclear power station; where did it all go so wrong?

To me it just emphasises how poor successive government of either colour have been in getting a proper nuclear programme in place to bridge the gap between fossil fuels and the day when technology makes renewables a practical reality.

Moggy