Environmental Issues of Coal Mining

When asked to think of coal mining, what comes to mind? A mountain with a hole cut into the side of it with a set of railroad tracks disappearing into it? Maybe an old mine car or two full of some rocks or coal, with a pickaxe and shovel leaning against it. A few guys with hard hats covered in a black powder coming walking out of the mine pushing a car or two full of coal. The technology has advanced but the process is basically still the same as well as the outcome. Coal is retrieved from underground and taken to factories to be burnt to create electricity or to fuel the steel mills.

Acid rain is precipitation containing harmful amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. (Environmental Effects) A few acid rain examples are rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloudwater, and dew. “Toxic pollutants in the air or deposited on soils or surface waters, can impact wildlife in a number of ways. Greenhouse gases a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation, such as, carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons. Methane, water vapor, fluorinated gases, ozone, sulfur hexafluoride, Carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide.(OTHER GREENHOUSE

Nowadays, coal is still one of the greatest used energy to generate power in so many countries. Using coal in electricity generation is 93% in South African, 87% in Poland, 79% in China, 78% in Australia, 45% in USA, 41% in Germany, 58% in Israel etc. (Coal & Electricity) From the data above, even the developed countries use coal to generate power as the main source. In many developed countries, energy generation is still based on coal as a long-term source. In recent years, although there is an increasing number of equipment using gas and wind to generate the power, it is still lower than the proportion of coal-fired power generation. The reason why most countries choose coal as a main source to generate electricity, is that there are many advantages in using coal to generate electricity. First of all, coal is the

The subset of air pollutants that cause smog and acid rain (sometimes referred to as Criteria Air Contaminants or CACs) include: According to the most recent environmental indicators, 5.5 per cent of cardiopulmonary (heart and lung disease related) deaths can be attributed to ground-level ozone exposure, which has increased over the past decade.

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.

to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuel from our cars, coal, and natural gases found in

What are the harmful effects of bad ozone and what is being done to reduce the ozone pollution?

Becuase it is a stable energy source there is no sudden scarcity (you can experience sudden scarcity with Natural Gas). The textbook says, “Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the world. Every continent has coal, but almost two-thirds of known deposits occur in three countries- The United States, Russia, and China.” (Allison 161). Another reason is, there is plenty enough coal to last us for a long while. In December of 2014 there was 1.2 trillion short tons of coal in the United States. One last reason it is good for the environment is because it is good for foreign and developing countries. It is good for these countries because they produce lots of coal, especially Australia. Australia was big for its coal becuase it was produced by coal fired power

Rain drops that then fall through, or come in contact with, the acid will then increase their acidity. This is known as acid rain. This is a very large environmental issue because fossil fuels are burned to produce useful energy that is needed by society. But acid rain can reduce growth and even kill plants, trees and crops. It not only effects the part of the plant that is above ground, but drains the soil of its nutrients. The acidity of the rain will also lower the pH of water in lakes, killing the fish which live in it. Not only can the burning of fossil fuels ultimately lead to acid rain, but sulfur dioxide can also be the cause of many respiratory diseases like asthma and

When natural gas is burnt, it releases carbon-dioxide , monoxide and a various amount of carbon compounds are released into the atmosphere. These gases move carbon from the earth to the atmosphere, contributing in the direction of the greenhouse effect.

There are many kinds of air pollution. The ones I want to talk about are the ozone, acid rain, carbon monoxide and toxic air contaminants. Ozone is formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide react in sunlight.

The world naturally produces gasses, the most common being nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and methane. While these gasses are the basic building blocks of the earths atmosphere they are also green house gasses, gasses that are the main contributors to global warming. According to the Oxford English Dictionary global warming is, “A long-term gradual increase in the temperature of the earth 's atmosphere and oceans” (Global) and this increase in

There are four major gases that cause the greenhouse effect.  These chemicals are Chloroflourocarbons (CFC’s), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and Methane (CH4).  “CFC’s destroy ozone molecules by the thousands, causing a smaller amount of ozone in the ozone layer.  This allows more UV rays hit the Earth’s surface, causing a slight increase of the Earth’s temperature.  The more ozone molecules destroyed, the more UV rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere, making the temperature even higher”(What Is The Greenhouse Effect).

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s): CFC’s are lowering the average concentration of ozone in the stratosphere. “Since 1978 the use of CFC’s in aerosol cans has been banned in the United States, Canada and most Scandinavian countries. Aerosols are still used around the world and accounts for 25% of global CFC’s use”. (Miller 448). Spray cans discarded or leaking refrigerator and air conditioning equipment and the burning plastic foam products release the CFC’s into the atmosphere. Depending on the type, CFC’s stay in the atmosphere from 22 to 111 years.” Chlorofluorocarbons move up to the stratosphere gradually over several decades. Under high energy ultra violet (UV) radiation break them down and release chlorine atoms, which speed up the breakdown of ozone (O3) into oxygen (O2). Chlorofluorocarbons, also known as Freons, are green house gas that contributes to global warming. Photochemical air pollution is commonly referred to as “smog”. Smog is the contraction of the words smoke and fog, smog has been caused by water condensing on smoke particles, usually from burning coal. With the introduction of petroleum to replace coal economies in countries, photochemical smog has become predominant in many cities, which are located in sunny warm and dry climates with many motor vehicles. The worst episodes of

The two types of air pollutants I select for this discussion are carbon dioxide and ozone (or what is referred to as ground-level ozone). While carbon dioxide can be regarded a primary pollutant, ground-level ozone remains a secondary pollutant. Primary air pollutants according to the World Health Organization - WHO (2006) "are those that are emitted into the atmosphere from a source such as a factory chimney or exhaust pipe"¦" On the other hand, secondary pollutants according to the WHO (2006) "are those formed within the atmosphere itself." As WHO further points out, secondary air pollutants are a consequence of reactions (chemical) of those pollutants regarded primary. Carbon dioxide is considered a primary pollutant as it is emitted directly from its source, i.e. via vehicle exhaust pipe, etc. In basic terms, carbon dioxide as the World Health Organization (2006) points out is a product of the incomplete combustion of fuels containing carbon. Ground-level ozone is largely a product of the reaction between primary pollutants and sunlight.