Coal Fired Energy In Alberta Essay

Coal has been the lowest costing and largest source of electricity for Alberta to date. As it stands, coal accounts for 43 per cent, or around 6,300 megawatts, of Alberta's total electricity generation which is about 14,500 MWs, and is responsible for 65 per cent of the country's coal-fired electricity generation (Haavardsrud, Paul, Alberta's quitting coal, for better and worse). The concern however steams from the environmental issues, more specially pollution and greenhouse gases that come along with the use of coal fired power plants. Data released by Alberta Environment and Parks show how coal power plants continue to be the largest single source of emissions in Alberta (Morgan Geoffrey, Coal-fired power plants feel the heat of Alberta’s new carbon tax rules). Alberta’s Premier, Rachel Notley, recently released …show more content…
The new strategy sees the province moving entirely away from coal-fired electricity by the year 2030 and replacing it with renewable energy and natural gas-fired electricity. Many concerns however arise from this change.
One of the biggest concerns that arises from the replacement of coal fired power plants is unemployment. Alberta currently is economically unstable, in which it has seen its unemployment rate rise from 4.7% in 2014 to 7.0% in 2015 (Statistics Canada). Phasing out coal fired power plants will further impact Alberta’s unemployment rate. Alberta, having 18 coal-fired power plants (Alberta Canada) will lose thousands of workers who are employed by these coal-fired power plants or have any indirect employment associated with the power plants. Not only are these coal power plants going to shut down, but the coal mining industry will also be hit hard. Coal must be extracted from the ground, and this is done so through mining. As demand for