ABSTRACT
Unless it proves possible to increase accessible reserves of natural gas sharply and dramatically along the unorthodox lines discussed in the preceding chapter, coal will remain by far the greatest non-nuclear energy resource. But coal has always been an inconvenient material. Coal production and consumption have always been burdened with an assortment of ancillary costs. Underground mining, for instance, has traditionally exacted more casualties per man-hour than any other major occupation. Along with its harmful effects on human health, coal mining has always imposed heavy aesthetic and ecological penalties. It is true that world resources of nuclear fuel are not uniformly distributed either, but they are better distributed than coal. Coal, oil, and nuclear systems deal with concentrated forms of energy and so require less apparatus. This argument is simplistic and glosses over many lesser considerations, but is generally found to be true.
