Tagebau Hambach Facts
Tagebau Hambach Facts
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| Interesting Tagebau Hambach Facts: |
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| The operating company of Tagebau Hambach is RWE Power AG. It is a power company in Germany headquartered in Essen with an office located in Cologne. |
| When Tagebau Hambach was first proposed and the approval process began it was 1974. By 1978 the excavation of the open pit mine began. |
| More than 40 million tons of brown coal is extracted from the mine each year. |
| The world's biggest excavators are found at Tagebau Hambach mine. They are 96 meters high and 220 meters long. They weigh as much as 13,500 tons. The excavators can extract 240,000 tons of coal in only one day. This is enough to fill a professional football stadium as high as 30 meters. |
| As the mine is depleted overburden is used to backfill the pit. Each year approximately 250 million square meters of overburden is backfilled. |
| Towns that were resettled due to Tagebau Hambach mine opening included Lich-Steinstrab, Etzweiler, Tanneck, and Gesolei. |
| Towns still to be resettled include Morschenich and Manheim. |
| Particulate, or dust, being released into the air is an environmental and health concern. Efforts to reduce this impact include planting trees, grass growth, securely fastened conveyor belts, proper roadways, and spraying water on overburden to reduce dust being released into the air. |
| In 2016 a protest took place to try to save the last bit of the Hambach forest. 600 protestors dressed in red and formed a line to make their point. Other protests in the past included a camps set up in protest, and even activists rappelling from trees. |
| Towns that have been resettled due to the mine's existence and expansion have existed for as long as 1000 years in some cases. |
| Despite the commitment of Germany to clean energy, it continues to allow the brown coal mines in the country to expand, including Tagebau Hambach. |
| Tagebau Hambach is roughly 33 miles wide. It has destroyed towns and forests and farmland as it continues to grow. |
| Because of land laws in Germany the government can continue to expand the mine by taking land from its owners and paying them what they deem it to be worth. |
| Tagebau Hambach supplies a large amount of the brown coal that is used for heat in the country but the country is gaining popularity for its use of alternative energy. However the mine continues to grow in size and have a negative impact on the environment. |
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