this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2026
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"Experts say power plants 'burn coal to convert water into steam.'"
I mean, does anyone really know how these things operate?
Sadly from personal experience, no, the general public does not know that coal power plants work by burning coal to boil water, and are horrified at how trashy the concept is.
High-key a great way to persuade them to support renewables. Associate coal with the image of people in underdeveloped countries burning fossil fuels in their own homes to exploit their own preconceived biases.
Alternatively you can depict it as filthy and Victorian. Something that was once an improvement, but these days really only belongs in a museum. You can compare it to child labor and accurately point out that the Victorian era was grimy and disgusting because of how much coal was burned then.
The tide comes in. The tide goes out.
Water, fire, air and dirt; fucking magnets, how do they work?
You can't explain that!
Omg, I've explained this so many times on here. The tide comes in because the tide goes out. See? Everything has an explanation.
Every power source is a solar power source if you follow the trail back far enough.
*stellar, not solar, the carbon in coal wasn't formed by our sun but a different star far in the past
Now you’re just splitting hairs. I mean we’d still call solar panels “solar panels,” even if they were collecting energy from another star (say, on an interstellar spaceship).
Yeah but the trees that made it into hydrocarbons were fuled by our sun.
Deep sea vents aren't, unless you're including the formation of the solar system as 'solar'
Also geothermal and nuclear power aren’t
I did say “if you follow the trail back far enough.” Same goes for uranium. Born from supernovae (exploding stars).
I only use pure clean hydrogen unchanged from the big bang.
Much of North America has enjoyed electricity steady enough not to think much past don't wiz on the electric fence.
That was a multi-generational achievement.
Anyone with a passing knowledge of chemistry and thermodynamics would know how it works in theory at least.
But what about "clean coal"? Checkmate, Atheists!
Ah yes, whitewashed coal !
I think they meant "an ALLEGED greenhouse gas"