
King Coal
From Energy Switch by Switch Energy Alliance
February 17, 2026 · 25 min · Season 7 · Episode 10
About this episode
The episode discusses the dominance of coal as an electricity source and its environmental impacts with experts.
Coal is still the dominant source of electricity worldwide. That’s because it’s available domestically in many countries, and is cheap and easy to mine, transport and burn. But those benefits come with serious downsides: local air pollution and global CO2 emissions. We discuss with Dr. Rahul Tongia from the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, and Dr. Mark Thurber from Stanford University.
People in this episode
Guests: Dr. Rahul Tongia, Dr. Mark Thurber
Topics covered
- coal
- electricity
- pollution
- CO2 emissions
- energy sources
Keywords
- coal
- electricity
- pollution
- CO2 emissions
- energy
- mining
- transport
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Centre for Social and Economic Progress, Stanford University
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