Skip to content
Return of the king episode artwork

May 8, 2012 28 min

Return of the king

from Costing the Earth Hosted by BBC Radio 4

In the rush to come up with new, clean ways to produce electricity many people assumed that dirty old coal was a fuel of the past, a relic of the Industrial Revolution. However, coal's dominance of the market in electricity generation is actually increasing. China is building many new coal-fired power stations. The booming economies of Poland, Australia and South Africa are almost exclusively reliant on coal whilst even the Germans have turned back to the black stuff as they abandon nuclear power. In 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap investigates the dramatic revival of Old King Coal and asks if there are any realistic ways to turn our cheapest, most abundant fuel into a clean source of energy. Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Ready to play

Return of the king

0:00 28:00

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Costing the Earth?

This episode is 28 minutes long.

When was this Costing the Earth episode published?

This episode was published on May 8, 2012.

Can I download this Costing the Earth episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.