Vote for Craig Bergland

Coal Cycle

Added: Jun 2nd, 2008
Coal is at best 30% efficient. Better than a car, but still sucks. Here's how it works: the power companies burn coal, to boil water, to make steam, to turn a turbine that makes electricity. This power is sent via electric transmission lines (losing energy) into our homes. In many cases our houses have electric water heaters. Is that nuts? It would be more sane for us to burn our own coal in our own houses. Not only would it provide hot water, but we d recapture some of that lost 70% of heat to heat our domiciles, and perhaps even generate electric. What s that? Coal is a dirty fuel and will pollute our neighborhoods? Yes it sure is and does.