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Originally Posted by redpoint5
More favorable; certainly.
Relative cost/benefit to fossil fuels now, in the nearterm, and far future... things begin to get a lot more hazy.
We've clearly benefited mightily by use of fossil fuels. I've not seen a comprehensive study showing net benefit and net cost for various levels of fossil fuel use, and I don't expect to ever see one because the variables involved are so complex, and weighing the benefits and consequences involves much subjectivity.
I'm not saying we need give no consideration to fossil fuel consumption, only saying that even those most in the know are far from having an "all things considered" understanding.
As I've maintained, the best course of action probably lies somewhere between AOC live in caves proposals, and the climate denying contingent (do they have a figurehead?) do-nothing crowd.
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In 2015,a Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment study found that,for the coal industry alone,their hidden societal costs amounted to $345-billion a year (about half the Pentagon's budget),requiring a tripling of coal-fired electrical rates to compensate for.
Not only for Americans,this sort of thing makes US coal a global pariah.