Disadvantages Coal is one of the dirtiest of fuels. Burning it produces enormous amounts of ash, and flue gasses containing pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphuric acids and arsenic. It also produces almost twice as much carbon dioxide as gas (for the same heat).
These pollutants can be cleaned out of the system before they are released although this obviously adds an extra expense to the cost. There is also the danger that poorer or less conscientious countries will skimp on these controls.
There is also the environmental, human and energy costs of extracting the coal: subsidence, spoil heaps, miners' death and illnesses. It should be noted that something like 50% of the energy used to mine coal comes from oil.
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