I am puzzled by the letter from Viv Forbes (Independent April 4) on the subject of coal-powered electricity generation. Viv appears to be saying that because coal was such an improvement upon the 19th century energy sources that it replaced, we ought to just sit back, be thankful we have lots of it and stop thinking we could ever do better.
Her claim that coal is “less damaging to the environment than its green energy alternatives’ can only be true if we leave that coal in the ground; because coal that is mined, transported and then burnt for electricity generation causes environmental damage at every step along that process in ways that renewable energy sources do not.
However, one statement Viv makes is absolutely correct, and bears thinking about. Coal is indeed fossil sunshine, with all that this implies. Australia’s coal deposits were created many millions of years ago, and vast as they might seem to be, once we dig them up and sell them off , that’s it.
Rudimentary economics distinguishes between capital and income – we are treating our coal deposits as income, but they are capital. Once sold they’re gone and there’s no getting them back. It is almost certain that in years to come humans will find more important uses for that “fossil sunshine’ than simply burning it to generate electricity; there are any number of better ways we can generate electricity. Why such a rush to squander the family fortune and leave our grandchildren with a world in which all the useful resources have been either dug up, cut down, polluted or driven to extinction?
Jo Leoni,
Armidale
