Deaths per Terawatt Hour: How Safe Are Different Energy Sources?
When we talk about energy, most people think about cost, availability, or climate impact. But there’s another number that matters just as much: deaths per terawatt hour, a measure of how many people die for every trillion watts of electricity produced. It’s not a number you hear on TV, but it tells you the real human cost of the power we use every day. This metric includes accidents during mining, transportation, plant operations, and even air pollution from emissions. And the results? They’re shocking.
Coal, the most common power source in many parts of the world kills more people per unit of energy than almost anything else. Studies show coal causes around 24.6 deaths per terawatt hour—mostly from air pollution and mining accidents. Oil, another fossil fuel, isn’t much better, at about 18.4 deaths per terawatt hour. Even natural gas, often called "cleaner," still leads to 2.8 deaths per terawatt hour from explosions, leaks, and pollution. Now compare that to wind power, the cleanest and safest large-scale energy source. Wind causes just 0.02 deaths per terawatt hour—mostly from falls during turbine maintenance. Solar? About 0.01. That’s 2,000 times safer than coal.
People worry about nuclear power because of Chernobyl and Fukushima. But even nuclear, with its rare but high-profile disasters, causes only 0.03 deaths per terawatt hour—still far safer than fossil fuels. The real danger isn’t the reactor. It’s the smokestack. And yet, we spend billions on nuclear safety while ignoring the daily toll of coal plants. Why? Because the risks of fossil fuels are invisible. They don’t explode in headlines. They show up as asthma in children, lung cancer in miners, and premature deaths in cities with bad air. The data doesn’t lie: switching to wind and solar isn’t just good for the planet. It’s a public health emergency.
What you’ll find below are real posts that dig into energy safety, clean power, and the hidden costs of our current system. From how solar stacks up against nuclear to why renewable energy isn’t just cheaper—it’s lifesaving. No theory. No guesswork. Just the numbers that matter.
