Energy Disasters

How does the accident at the Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan rank among other energy disasters? It depends somewhat on who you ask. Chernobyl is routinely sited as the benchmark for the worst nuclear accident in history. And yet, nearly all of the major energy industries have experienced catastrophic disasters in recent memory.

We noticed two lists in particular recently. The "edgy" business site Business Insider compiled this list of 24 disasters that happened just within the past year. The green-friendly Mother Jones offers a slightly different spin, offering up its list of the biggest "Dirty Energy Disasters." Big Think is digging deeper, and more broadly, examining the worst energy disasters of all time. This was an admittedly tricky assignment. In ranking these disasters we had to consider multiple factors, but settled on two in particular: the number of human lives lost, and the scale of the environmental impact.

The Worst Energy Disasters of All Time | Top Five | Big Think

In my mind the worst energy disaster of all time is the release of teratonnes of CO2 over the last century, resulting in climate chaos. But that's me.