Advantages And Disadvantages Of Coal

The biggest concern associated with coal energy is the affect it has on the environment. It is a dirty fuel that pollutes the air, water and land. Burning coal releases harmful waste such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide,

Oil production is crucial for humans. Overall, 33 out of 48 countries have now hit a peak in oil production, resulting that oil is going to hit a decline in production. This peak is in countries such as Mexico and Russia, potentially signifying the end of the Industrial revolution. However, oil itself is not running out, just the rich, thick oils, that are high quality. In the near future, the only oil that Earth will have will be thin, and not good enough to use in motor vehicles or for electricity. Additionally, cheap and easy to extract oil will be at a decline, and also oil will be in unaccessible places, or within dangerous areas. Oil production needs to stay at pace with the human demand.

The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. When an area is to be mined, topsoil and subsoil are removed from the rock and so is another material, call overburden, to expose the bed of coal. All living plants give solar energy through photosynthesis. When plants die the energy gets out as the plants decay. The whole decaying process gets interrupted which prevents the release of the stored solar energy, then the energy stays locked in the coal. The plant material gets subjected to high temperatures and pressures which causes physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into coal. The formation of peat is the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal. Peat plants is not only the first step for formation but they also capture CO2 itself. There are many effect to the environment when it comes to coal; an example is AMD which stands for Acid mine drainage; it includes the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines. Mines exposed rocks containing pyrite which reacts to water and air to form acid and dissolved iron and can easily wash into rivers and streams. Coal is a huge impact when it comes to hurting our

The production of coal energy produces the most amount of carbon dioxide than any other method. It is a non-renewable energy source, and coal mines destroy most of the surrounding areas around it. With the recession going on, no one is buying into coal power plants at the moment which is an economy issue. (Center for Energy)

The article, “Coal and the Environment”, provides the readers will and understanding of how coal works and also how it is dangerous to our environment. Coal on its own is not dangerous to the environment but once the coal is burned, then pollutants are released into the air causing for less clean air. The government has taken a stand on the industries polluting the air we breathe in everyday with the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. These two acts put restrictions on industries that allow for safer and cleaner air.

Coal is the most abundant and important source of primary energy in the world. There are reserves spread throughout some one hundred countries to meet global needs up to the next two hundred and fifty years. It is the most important fossil fuel for electricity generation and industrial purposes. But, it has pollution issues to the environment like Air pollution, land degradation, noise pollution, etc. But the pollution I am going to be talking about is water pollution from the coal mines in the Alabama rivers.

Emissions from coal fired power plants contribute to global warming, ozone smog, acid rain, regional haze, and perhaps most consequential of all from a public health standpoint, fine particle pollution.

Coal (n): A combustible black or dark brown rock consisting mainly of carbonized plant matter, found mainly in underground deposits and widely used as fuel. This little rock is what keeps 39% of our nation running. 10% of that coal comes from stripping the Appalachian mountain range of her beautiful peaks in a process called strip mining- or, more popularly, Mountaintop Removal. Coal is considered a non-renewable energy resource, meaning once it’s depleted, it will not return for millions of years. Once it's gone, it's gone. These non-renewable sources are found deep underground. Coal needs to be mined out, either by machine or by manual labor. The use of and the process in which we procure coal is a detriment to both the environment and the people in said environment. It is dangerous to the workers within the mines, the flora and fauna around the sites, and the surrounding communities.

Coal releases dozens of hazardous substances that can be harmful to human health. These are just four of the many things that coal releases: Mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. Every one of these act on the nervous system to cause loss of intellectual capacity. Exposure to coal dust can lead to black lung disease, or pneumoconiosis, which took the lives of 10,000 miners worldwide over the last decade. Black lung disease is similar to diseases you can get from smoking tobacco for a long period of time. This disease is most common with coal miners, because they are constantly exposed to the dangers coal causes. Coal affects not only the human respiratory system, but also the cardiovascular and nervous system. This

powerplants usually add chlorine or other harmful chemicals to the water they use, which means that these chemicals also get released back into the environment. Another negative impact is the amount of energy being created. Most of heat used for burning the coal and creating steam is wasted. Coal powerplants usually only use 33 – 35% of the coals heat to create electricity. The rest of the heat gets released into the atmosphere or absorbed by cooling water. This is negative as this sudden influx of heat could affect the climate in that area, if not the world. If we have millions of coal power plants (Keep in mind it produces 41% of the electricity) than whats not to say all that heat and other emission from the plants won’t cause global warming?

As far back as the Roman Empire, and indeed probably long before then, coal has been used by humans as a source of heat, providing many advantages over wood, charcoal and other fuels. However, it wasn 't until the introduction of the steam engine that coal became a major part of shaping the world. Fueling the industrial revolution, the high energy concentration of coal made it the standard source of everything from trains to power plants. Coal companies claim that coal, though not perfect, is the best source of energy at this moment, and the negative effects are being mitigated even as we speak. Consumers have a high demand of energy, that cannot be sated by other sources. To this very day, coal continues to drive forward the world, but

Another concern is the stress coal puts on our environment. Coal is known as a dirty-burning source of energy. The U.S. Energy Information Administration found that burning coal released various dangerous emissions including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide as well as numerous others. Sulfur dioxide contributes to the formation and toxicity of acid rain as well as respiratory illnesses; nitrogen oxides develops smog and more respiratory illnesses; carbon dioxide which is the leading greenhouse gas that damages the atmosphere (EIA 2017) . Not only does coal contribute to our growing environmental problems but also affects human health around the country. Dr. Michael Hendryx of West Virginia University began discovered an alarming correlation with coal production and various ailments. Hendryx found that closer the location of settlements to

One reason it impacts the environment is because it provides jobs for people. It removes coal from the Earth, unlike nuclear, natural gas, oil, and hydroelectric. It removes the coal from Earth because of surface mining or underground mining. Surface mining is where soil and rock overly the mineral deposit and are removed. Underground mining excavates hard minerals (gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin and lead). Another way it provides jobs is because it is transporting it to the utility. Before coal can be used it has to be transferred to an end user. The growth in coal can usually depend on having a sufficient capacity. It also provides jobs becuase it is properly

With that being said here are some environmental impacts of coal you may not know about. The air pollutants cause acid rain, smog ,respiratory illnesses, cancers and toxins in the environment. Coal miners can get respiratory illnesses from the coal dust while mining. If an abandoned coal mine catches fire it puts tons of mercury into the atmosphere, this happens every year and is responsible for three percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally. The second largest contributor to

Many of these are released into the atmosphere as hazardous air pollutants…and many of them are harmful to health” (Lockwood 17). The EPA has done many studies to determine the elements that are released from the burning of coal and the amount of each is measured. While the amounts may be minute, over time with exposure they can damage to human organs. For this reason many activists desire to eliminate or slow down the use of coal for generating electricity. While it is true that the elements and compounds are harmful to humans, the amount of some of these elements is not truly harmful. The benefits of having cheap energy far out way the negatives from the pollution. The average life expectancy is on the rise around the planet and cheap energy has improved the lives of many in poor countries. The U.S. government and the EPA have created many laws to protect citizens and to force coal burning facilities to reduce emissions. Renewable sources for energy are good, but the sun does not always shine, nor the wind blow, and at those times, coal is