The Pros And Cons Of Renewable And Nonrenewable

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

It implies that it is possible to make coal a fuel source that is free of (or very low in) carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutant emissions. Some of the techniques that would be used to accomplish this include chemically washing minerals and impurities from the coal, gasification (see also IGCC), treating the flue gases with steam to remove sulfur dioxide, carbon capture and storage technologies to capture the carbon dioxide from the flue gas and dewatering lower rank coals (brown coals) to improve the calorific value, and thus the efficiency of the conversion into electricity.

We should invest in cleaner alternatives that will not only be better for us but the environment. Although coal is used for electricity, there are other ways to produce electricity like water power, wind generators, and solar energy. Water power, or hydropower is power that is derived from the weight of the water. Hydroelectric power plants use dams or rivers to store water to then release the water through turbines that spin it that produces electricity. Wind generators are like water power but instead of water its wind. Wind turbines converts the wind’s energy into electric energy. Solar energy is similar but the energy comes from the sun. Some people use solar energy for their homes so they save money and will not have to pay an electric bill. Instead of burning coal, there are other alternatives as stated

It produces a great deal of our electricity; however, we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the implications. As Goodell notes on the first page, “We love our hamburgers, but we’ve never seen the inside of a slaughterhouse.” Isn’t that the truth? When we fuel up our cars, we don’t think (much) about the ramifications of our oil dependence. When we flip a light switch, we do not associate that with the coal-driven mountaintop removals in West Virginia. In this book, “BIG COAL” Jeff describes Goodell thrusts those associations right in your face. He covers the history of the industry, tells the stories of the people in and around the business, and while most of the book is based on U.S.-happenings, he does spend a chapter in China. We would imagine the coal industry was none too pleased with Big Coal because it paints a really ugly picture of the industry. Goodell contrasts the coal industry with the individuals whose lives have been negatively impacted by coal in one way or another. He details corruption and politics that allowed the industry to delay implementation of pollution control equipment. And on a big picture level, he argues that continued usage of coal poses a serious threat to the earth’s

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

Jason Hayes, communications director for the American Coal Council says “the industry over the past few decades had invested over $100 billion in cleaning up emissions and it’s already been effective. All of the important noxious pollutants have decreased markedly over the last 30 to 40 years. We’ve been doing all of this on top of dealing with everything else.” Coal may not be green, but it is a source of energy American needs. It is cheap and efficient. Without coal, America wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is today. The coal mined here isn’t just used for energy. America’s

Coal power is the cheapest fuel to power the ever growing population with Australian mining industry still putting in billions of dollars into a vast amount of coal projects never the less coal power is a fossil fuel, a fuel which takes hundreds of year to form so the future of coal is undetermined. Coal is a reliable power source but one of the many concern with coal is the mining process used to remove it from the ground. Ecological effects are developing worries for the industry, with the carbon emissions possibly contributing to global warming.

“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,

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’s reputation has become as black as coal itself, but without it the quality of life that hundreds of millions of people enjoy today would not be possible. Coal has been used in many ways throughout history and it will continue to be a vital resource in supplying the energy needed to fuel an energy hungry world. Research cited throughout this paper suggests that coal is an energy source for the future because it is stable and reliable with abundant reserves, it is the most affordable and efficient fuel source used to produce power, and because of new clean coal technologies, coal can be burned with minimal to no damage to the environment.

Coal is a dirty industry from beginning to end, but until recently the public knew very little of how the coal cycle ends -- with millions of tons of toxic coal ash waste produced each year. Coal ash can cause many health problems for people who are exposed to it, and it can also damage our environment.The EPA has been very lenient with coal ash reuse and storage, and due to that leniency, many communities were and still are being negatively affected. Coal ash is not only negatively affecting North Carolina and the United States, it’s negatively affecting Earth in general. Coal ash is a global problem, and the EPA should be more strict with companies that reuse or store coal ash. As we deal with decades of coal ash waste, ultimately, we must stop burning coal to make power and find better ways to efficiently create electricity without making global warming worse.

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

Preview: Coal mining is a huge part of our nation though few people know much about it. This speech will address three of the main values that are held by the Interior Department Plan and the citizens across our country that support coal mining. These three values are: energy should be available for all, American jobs are important, and our country should be self-reliant and self-sufficient. During this speech, I will explain why each of these values is crucial to how we as a country function and how coal mining will effect each of these values significantly if banned.

The fall of coal is not only killing jobs, it is also killing the economy. Coal is losing the market. Coal is the number one source of the energy needed for the world. Since 2012, fifty eight coal burning plant burners have been shut down. From 2011 to 2014 there has been five

An environmentalist named Robert F. Kennedy wrote an article in 2009 for the Financial Times in which he said that the United States must end its “dependence on deadly, destructive coal” (Bryce 58). “Acid rain, airborne particulates, water pollution, and air pollution are just