The Cost of Coal

Here  at 2GreenEnergy we’ve discussed the externalities of fossil fuel consumption hundreds of times since our inception in 2009.  An externality is a term in economics, meaning the costs associated with transactions that are shifted off to unwary third parties.

Here is a good example: currently, the oil industry sells gasoline and diesel to be used in vehicles with internal combustion vehicles.  Yet it’s not the oil companies, but rather the entirety of Earth’s population, that absorbs the costs of the damage to our lungs, air pollution, global warming, etc.

Here’s a fabulous piece that looks at a tiny little sliver of this: the costs associated with the mining of coal in Appalachia, then shipped through the ports of Eastern Virginia all around the globe.

If you had children who coughed 365 days per year, or you had air duct filters that needed to be changed every two weeks because they were blackened by coal dust,  you’d be looking for a solution here, and that solution would involve, at a minimum, having the coal companies reimbursing your costs.