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Comment by dietr1ch | Hacker News Reader

Isn't "natural" gas a scam to keep polluting? Why not nuclear and within a lifetime renewable energies?

It very much is natural, it comes right out of the ground. Why not nuclear? Its 10x more expensive than gas

Coal and Asbestos are natural too, the point is that "natural" there is a greenwashing term as it's quite polluting and not the best energy source out there considering global warming.

Natural gas is terrible, but arguably less terrible than coal which aside from CO2 spews out a plethora of other nasty compounds.

One small plus for coal is that it doesn't leak. With better satellite observation now, we're finding out how underreported the emissions of methane from natural gas extraction were.

Of course coal "leaks" .. it's a major issue worldwide.

https://www.osmre.gov/programs/mine-fires

    Due to thermal insulation and the avoidance of rain/snow extinguishment by the crust, underground coal-seam fires are the most persistent fires on Earth and can burn for thousands of years, like Burning Mountain in Australia.

~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire

Coal mines also leak methane.

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