Coal production in the United Kingdom was like having removed and burned a three-inch layer of material from the entire area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Randall Munroe’s xkcd web comic on September 30, 2024 is titled UK Coal. He turns the total coal production of 25 billion tonnes into having removed a three-inch layer of material from the entire land area. That’s an excellent example of What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) – turning a gigantic number inro something you can picture. On July 12, 2016 I blogged about How to make statistics understandable. But on February 7, 2023 I also blogged about An xkcd comic on a size comparison that is unhelpful.

 

The Explain xkcd page discusses how the coal is not evenly distributed. Consider that a seam might be 60 inches thick – twenty times the average. Then subsidence after mining can be a significant problem. There is a web page at GOV.UK titled Coal mining subsidence damage – a guide to your rights.