Climategate, Coal Mine Deaths, Air Pollution and Coals assault on human health

At the Bishop Hill blog there is a summary of the key emails and data hacked from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) – a leading climate research facility

It shows made biased and overly alarmist presentations of the climate data and worked to suppress the work of scientists who disagreed with global warming. It also shows attacks on the careers of scientists, journalist and editors who disagreed with global warming.

The over reaching on the science and over aggressive tactics are now blowing up in face of the pro-global warming side.

No need to Exaggerate the Deadliness of Coal
There are plenty of clear and uncontroversial reasons to not have coal power.
This week there was another coal mine accident in China, with at least 87 dead.

China’s mining industry is the deadliest in the world, with more than 3,000 workers killed last year despite a massive safety drive that has slashed fatalities. Hundreds of rescuers in northern China are battling to reach 21 miners trapped after a huge gas explosion early yesterday killed at least 87 of their colleagues. In February, a blast at a mine in Shanxi, northern China, killed 77. An explosion in the same province killed 105 people in December 2007 and 203 died in Liaoning province in 2005. Last month, the head of the State Administration of Coalmine Safety, Zhao Tiechui, said accidents had fallen by more than 46% between 2004 and last year. Experts also say the industry’s true toll is higher than it appears because mine bosses often attempt to cover up casualties, and deaths from mining-related illnesses are not included.

Nextbigfuture has looked at deaths per twh for all energy sources before and that presents a clear case on which energy sources are dangerous and to be avoided.

Rooftop solar is several times more dangerous than nuclear power and wind power. It is still much safer than coal and oil, because those have a lot of air pollution deaths.

Rooftop solar can be safer [0.44 up to 0.83 death per twh each year). If the rooftop solar is part of the shingle so you do not put the roof up more than once and do not increase maintenance then that is ok too. Or if you had a robotic system of installation.

World average for coal is about 161 deaths per TWh.
In the USA about 30,000 deaths/year from coal pollution from 2000 TWh.
15 deaths per TWh.
In China about 500,000 deaths/year from coal pollution from 1800 TWh.
278 deaths per TWh.

Wind power proponent and author Paul Gipe estimated in Wind Energy Comes of Age that the mortality rate for wind power from 1980–1994 was 0.4 deaths per terawatt-hour. Paul Gipe’s estimate as of end 2000 was 0.15 deaths per TWh, a decline attributed to greater total cumulative generation.

Hydroelectric power was found to to have a fatality rate of 0.10 per TWh (883 fatalities for every TW·yr) in the period 1969–1996

Nuclear power is about 0.04 deaths/TWh.

Energy costs with externalities has also been presented here. Externalities are things that cost society but are not included in the bill that the energy consumer pays

Nextbigfuture has detailed the massive problems with coal power and coal waste

There is a new report from the group Physicians for Social Responsibility outlines an “assault on human health” by the mining of coal, the burning of coal and the disposal of coal’s waste products.

Among other adverse effects, the report links coal pollution to: Asthma, stunted lung development, infant mortality, lung cancer, abnormal heart rates or heart attacks, congestive heart failure, stroke and developmental delays.