Growing up one of my favorite movies was Real Life GIANT Construction Equipment for Kids, hosted by Hard Hat Harry. So when I was sent this awesome infographic detailing the monster machines used to extract coal, I had to share.
Somebody else has to have watched those videos, right?
Anyway, a recent study detailed the “hidden” cost of coal, from extraction to combustion, at somewhere around $500 billion. Over $250 billion alone goes towards health care costs for communities around coal fired plants and mines. Then there are the massive machines used to dig this stuff from out of the Earth. Granted, these machines are few in number in the grand scheme of things…but it may surprise you how much fuel one of these monsters can guzzle in a single day. WellHome, a home energy auditing company, put together this awesome infographic to show us how much these mega machines cost in the long run.
I should point out that two of the largest machines, Big Muskie (my favorite) and the creatively named Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60, are no longer in operation. In fact, the 10,000 acres carved out by Big Muskie when it was operational from 1969 to 1991 have been reclaimed and are now a protected preserve called “The Wilds.”
Other machines are not so unique, like the German Liebherr T 282B, basically the biggest dump truck ever. Weighing in at 658 tons, it can go through 600 tons of fuel in a 12-hour operational day, or 219,000 tons per-year. And it’s a diesel hybrid! Then there’s the Claw (“I’ll get you Gadget!!”) a huge loader that weighs over 2,000,000 pounds and has a fuel tank capacity of over 4,000 gallons. Damn, that’s a lot of gas.I
There are other interesting machines on this list too, and it really gives you more of an idea of the true cost of coal power. The thing is, I’m not a kid anymore, and even though I think these machines are still cool, and a testament to what mankind can do, I’d rather see them in a museum than tearing up the Earth. Don’t need huge dump trucks or loaders to collect sunshine or wind, do you?
Source: WellHome
Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMI’s. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
Home Energy Audits by Wellhome.com