Air pollution from coal power generation and internal combustion engine automobile driving (diesel being the worst by far) causes strokes, heart attacks, asthma, lung cancer, etc. It shortens peoples lives, makes them worse from a health standpoint and causes many deaths every year.

Imagine just the healthcare cost savings and the productivity gains alone from using cleaner power generation.

Phasing out coal power is a no brainer because there are plenty of alternatives to use, and renewable energies like solar will make our grid more resilient by making power generation more diffuse.

Electrifying cars is a longer-term issue. But if you can electrify cars, you can power them from cleaner sources. Even if you don't power them with cleaner sources, you'd still get less localized particulate pollution.

Whether or not you care about global warming or the planet itself, you'd get big benefits personally for your health and your family's health if we had cleaner power generation.

The $10 Billion per year is just in extra costs passed onto grid customers compared with using natural gas and renewables instead.

http://www.carbontracker.org/in-the-media/phasing-out-coal-p...