The Pros And Cons Of Combustion Of Coal Energy

Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water. With all of the talk surrounding nuclear energy, hydropower and biofuels, you might be forgiven for thinking that grimy coal is finally on its way out. On the other hand, coal is no sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution - it generates half of the electricity in the United States and will likely continue to do so as long as it's cheap and plentiful . Clean coal technology seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean. Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal - 92 percent of the U.S. supply - goes into power production .Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity. When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle. Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and

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 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)

“720 tons of carbon monoxide is a main cause of global warming (Why We Need To Quit Coal)”, “3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas also contributes to global warming(Why We Need To Quit Coal)”, “10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide which is a main contributor to smog and acid rains(Why We Need To Quit Coal)”, also over “125,000 tons of ashe and 193,000 tons of sludge from smokestack scrubbers from coal plants(Why We Need To Quit Coal)”. There are many ways to get rid of coal completely but would take a lot of time and space. “We could build 243 hydroelectric dams that have hoover dams generating capacity which is about 2,000 megawatts(Kenward)”. “We could build 10,200 solar energy farms the size of the largest, Topaz energy farm in California but the space needed for this would be about three times the size of Delaware (kenward)”. “We could build 194,000 wind turbines having 2 megawatts each but that's about 8,000 (Kenward)” a year to reach Obama's goal, or “we could build 64 nuclear power plants the size of indian point power station in New York” (Kenward)”. This is all examples of clean energy that we have the technology for but would take a lot of time, money, and space. But with clean energy there is always cons. “If we converted to water power some good things that would happen would be, expands irrigation, provides water for 30% of irrigated land, and provides drinking water(Sideris)”! Now some cons are, “Water wars between the dams, maintenance on dams, expensive, and people would have to relocated(Sideris)”. “For nuclear power it would be very bad because a meltdown could occur and end up like chernobyl(Sideris)”! But not everything is bad about nuclear power like, “the fuel can be recycled, low cost,

When fossil fuels are burnt, the c02 is released into the atmosphere rapidly, and the c02 cycle doesn’t have enough time to get the c02 out of the atmosphere. This c02 traps the heat from coming out of the atmosphere and creates global warming. Global warming is serious because it melts the ice cap, removes habitas, raises sea levels and many other negative effects. A good way to stop this environmental hazard is to use green energy. Instead of burning coal and natural gas, we can use more wind turbines, hydro-electric dams and other green electricity options. We also need to research solar panels more, so we can make them more efficiant. If we start to do this, the c02 outtake would be significantly decreased and the world will be a better place to live

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.

Many places are known for many things, and West Virginia is known for its coal. As much as a television remote needs batteries, West Virginia needed coal in its early statehood. Coal has recently been the subject of chaos in many circles around the state. Many believe we should bleed, breathe, and breed coal. While others realize that coal is dangerous and is on its way out the door. As everything else in the world coal has its Pro's and Con's. For example, coal is a cheaper alternative to creating heat which maintains electricity. Though you may pollute the air with a high concentrate of sulfur in which coal releases. As for me, I believe coal is on its deathbed and rightfully so. Coal has taken far too many lives, such, as young men, grandfathers,

Even people who do not develop illnesses from coal pollutants will find their health and wellbeing impacted due to coal's contribution to global warming. The discharge of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere associated with burning coal is a major contributor to global warming and its adverse effects on health and wellbeing worldwide, such as heat stroke, malaria, declining food production, scarce water supplies, social conflict and

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?

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

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

Statistics alone should tell us all how bad coal is. ... Coal emits more carbon per unit of energy than oil, and 80 percent more than natural gas. It accounts for 43 percent of global emissions (2.7 billion tons of it every year). The two main ingredients of coal are particulate and sulphur dioxide.

Wind energy is safer for the environment versus burning coal because of the benefits wind energy provides. For example, wind energy does not emit any CO2 , and it has no ongoing fuel costs. Wind energy does not involve removing minerals and nutrients from the earth as does strip mining. Nor does wind energy contaminate ground water. Wind energy does not emit any airborne mercury. In addition, the burning of coal releases toxic fumes into the atmosphere and produces about 200 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt of energy generated. This is very harmful to plants, animals, and the air we breathe. Wind energy is a renewable source of energy, whereas coal is a non-renewable fuel source.

CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas, which mainly comes from the use of fossil fuels. Many people feel that content of CO2 in the atmosphere is the main reason for manmade global warming. The main sources of CO2 emissions involve electricity generation, industrial processes, fumes from transportation and commercial buildings and use. Emissions of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, to the atmosphere are expected to cause even more of a significant change in global climate (Davison, 2007). The main focus to try to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is to reduce the amount that is released from coal-fired power plants. Greenhouse gas emissions that involve the productions of electricity come from natural gas production and coal-fired power plant operations. Natural gas production accounts for twenty-four percent and coal-fired power plant operations accounts for seventy-five percent, while the other one percent is caused by other electricity generation operations. The main reason why coal-fired power plants have a higher percentage of emissions is because the sulfur content of coal is much higher than that of other fossil fuels (Jarmaillo et al., 2007). This proves that there is a great need to find an alternative fossil fuel to use instead of coal. Although coal is easy to mine, transport and process for the electricity generation process, it is also the