@
myself
Actually there are many reasons why burning coal is not a good thing:
- it's not a renewable source of energy
- the pollution from coal burning plants needs to be tightly regulated (the problem is that not all types of coal burn the same nor do they have the same properties which is the reason why combustion of coal is not always easy to regulate if you want to reduce the pollution), and the reality is that in most countries it is not regulated at all or is regulated very poorly. One of the reasons for this is that measuring devices used to measure certain products of combustion can be placed on different sites, and this in turn dictates how often you'll have to replace certain parts of it, which is not always easy and brings big costs. If you place it near the site of combustion, you get relatively clear picture of the combustion by-products, but the probe gets damaged very quickly. If you place it somewhere further down the line you don't get as clear information on by-products, and some other devices might blurry the results also. And this is just one aspect why it's not so simple.
- When you use coal, the whole process is compromised by coal dust. There is no way you can prevent it from getting into devices, no matter how tightly you seal them. Coal dust is detrimental for electronic devices. This means special safety protocols and precautions.
- Burning coal gives more than just carbon emissions. From some types of coal you have very high concentrations of sulphur emissions in various forms. Many coal burning plants don't have devices that monitor, let alone regulate these emissions.
- People who work with coal are subjected to many health risks because they inhale coal dust. I spent some time in a coal burning plant. I was wearing black clothes, so it was not obvious at first, but when I got home and took it off, my skin was fully cowered with fine particles of coal dust. Just think how many I inhaled during that time. Then think about people living near by and those who work in that plants who inhale that everyday.
- And even if you find a way to minimise pollution and health risks in the plants, you are still left with those involved with coal mining and transporting.
There are similar concerns when mazut or natural gas are used as a combustible.
For further reading I suggest this, though I'm not the biggest fan of anything found on wikipedia and always take it with the grain of salt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_effects_of_coal
And I didn't even touched the question of global worming, and I won't. I'm not saying that nuclear power is nice and safe, but because of the risks involved with it's use it is usually more tightly regulated than some other types of energy production. And even then you'll have accidents. With the use of nuclear power you'll have some risks concerning the waste disposal, and virtually none other when the plant is working fine. With the use of coal you have health risks the whole time even when the process is stable, and you have health risks when it becomes unstable, like in the case of a plant accident.
Also, in my opinion people will never be responsible enough for whatever technology. It is estimated that around 95% of accidents in industry is the product of a human error. But it won't stop people from trying to do better, more, go further. Hopefully people will learn from every accident, and not make the same mistakes again.
Also, I suggest reading about background radiation and the causes of it, one being the coal-fired plants (again from wikipedia, but if you are interested I could try find some better sources) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation
Edit: Things get more complicated in places where winters are cold. Use of coal in individual households brings significant amount of pollution, mostly because it's unregulated. If you add this to the pollution already created by coal burning power plants, you get some serious health risks. Some countries are regulating this, and have district heating, but even then you have significant risks. The good option is combined heat and power production with natural gas as combustible, but not all countries have the resources and regulations needed to make this happen, and again natural gas is not a renewable source.