Myth Part 1: Coal power generates large amounts of emissions such as sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides, ozone, mercury, and particulate matter.

The Coal Truth: Modern coal power generates very small quantities of these emissions–at the same healthy levels generated by other industries and sometimes by nature.[1]

Myth Part 2: These emissions have been shown to cause asthma, heart disease, emphysema, and cancer.

The Coal Truth: At today’s low emissions levels there is no demonstrated causation between coal-related emissions and these problems.[2]

Myth Part 3: Therefore coal is bad for our health.

The Coal Truth: It is dishonest to only look for negative health impacts of coal, and ignore the vital positive impacts on health that we get from reliable, affordable energy–from warmth to refrigeration to reliable medical equipment to more affordable healthcare.

Assessing the benefits: Reliable, affordable energy from coal is crucial to human health.

To understand coal power’s impact on health we need to look at the whole truth–both its health benefits and health costs.

• Cheap, reliable energy is necessary for high-tech facilities such as hospitals, data centers, and laboratories. High-tech processes like running an MRI or processing information require enormous amounts of energy. Hospitals run on tight budgets and can pay in the range of 50% towards energy costs. [3] In 2003 large hospitals “accounted for less than 1 percent of all commercial buildings and 2 percent of commercial floorspace, but consumed 4.3 percent of the total delivered energy used by the commercial sector”; In 2007, large hospitals consumed 5.5 percent of all delivered energy used by the commercial sector. [4] Any decrease in the price of energy results in large budget savings for these facilities, which further results in more investment in data capacity or better services in a lab or hospital.
• Chemical manufacturing, which produces pharmaceuticals (as well as many other items including synthetic fertilizers, plastics and resins) uses over 180 thousand GWh of electricity, which is 20% of the electricity demand of the entire manufacturing sector in the US. [5]
• Air conditioning in the US is the single largest use of electric power in the residential sector, using more than 17% of the total electricity used by households on average. This is not simply a convenience but makes modern life healthier in arid regions like Southern California, Texas, and Nevada. [6]
• Refrigeration is now the single largest use of electricity in the commercial sector, using almost 14% of electricity in this sector. Refrigeration is a major milestone in human health, making sure our food and medication is preserved in a healthy condition. [7]

The best policy?

Communities should choose the energy sources that are the best combination of reliable, affordable, and safe–instead of the government discriminating against coal power.