Archaic, Inefficient, Dirty and Deadly Coal=Boiled Water=Electricity

In our continuing journey of discussing Environmental Topics, today I give you  Coal, in all of its archaic, inefficient, dirty and deadly glory.

It’s the black lump you get in your Christmas Stocking if you’ve been bad. The stuff that diamonds are made of. But what is Coal really, an why should we or shouldn’t we burn it to make electricity?

Lets take a look at what it is first.

Coal is created by the pressure of the earth on dead plant materiel that has been preserved by water and

Coal Mine in Pennsylvania

mud from oxidization and bio-degradation, preserving the atmospheric carbon. Or: A bunch of dead plants get crunched all together and pressed into chunks of coal. If you add huge amounts of pressure with a lot of heat and millions of years, you get diamonds.

Coal is composed primarily of carbon and hydrogen along with small quantities of other elements and can be extracted from the ground by either underground mining or open pit mining (surface mining). Coal is primarily used as a solid fuel to produce electricity and heat through combustion.

World coal consumption is about 6.2 billion tons annually. The USA consumes about 1.053 billion tons of coal each year, using 90% of it for generation of electricity. The world in total produced 6.19 billion tons of coal in 2006.

How is Coal Used?

Coal is the planets largest source of electrical fuel. When coal is used for electricity generation, it is usually pulverized and then burned in a furnace with a boiler. The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam, which is then used to spin turbines which turn generators and create electricity. On average, 65% of the coal energy is waste heat released into the surrounding environment.

Coal is the largest world-wide source of carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and these emissions contribute to climate change and global warming. In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, coal is slightly ahead of petroleum and about double that of natural gas.

How does this effect the Planet?

There are a number of adverse environmental effects of coal mining and burning, especially in power stations.

These effects include:

• release of carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are greenhouse gases, which are causing climate change and global warming according to the IPCC. Coal is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of CO2 in the air.
• generation of hundred of millions of tons of waste products, including fly ash, bottom ash, flue gas desulfurization sludge, that contain mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals
• acid rain
• interference with groundwater and water table levels
• impact of water use on flows of rivers and consequential impact on other land-uses
• dust nuisance
• subsidence above tunnels, sometimes damaging infrastructure
• rendering land unfit for other uses
• coal-fired power plants without effective fly ash capture are one of the largest sources of human-caused background radiation exposure
• coal-fired power plants shorten nearly 24,000 lives a year, including 2,800 from lung cancer.
• coal-fired power plant releases emissions including mercury, selenium, and arsenic which are harmful to human health and the environment.

All of this, to just boil some water.

So, if given other alternatives, would you say that using Coal as a fuel for electricity is a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, I guess that would depend on what the alternatives are, right?

Well, here are a few, and these have either been or will be discussed on this site:

• Clean Coal- The technology does not exist, it is not clean and is a Marketing Term for the coal industry. Clean Coal makes for Dirty Politics
• Nuclear Power- Is environmentally friendly but deadly to humans if there is a spill, melt-down or contamination. Nuclear Power uses Uranium, and the mining of this uranium is deadly to miners. Waste must be buried, sunk or shot into space for future generations to worry about.
• Wind Power – The technology is here and is being used. Wind Power can be used in Industrial or Private applications and no miners, forests, waterways or people get hurt in is harvesting or production.
• Solar (Sun) Power – same as Wind Power, word for word.
• Other fossil fuels such as Natural Gas and Oil – require intensive use of energy to harvest, mine, drill etc.., bad for the planet, bad for peoples health.

What can we do to help switch from Coal to Wind or Solar Power?

Unfortunately, the only thing that motivates Governments and Industries are money and power. If we can prove to them that the money for dirty energy is going away, and that there is money to be made in renewable fuels, you would be surprised at how fast they would act.

• Use less energy. I know this sounds overly simple, but if we turn off every single light in or on our houses, it would make a big difference. A locked front door is more of a deterrent than a porch light and using less electricity means utility companies will be scrambling to integrate renewable energies in an attempt to make back their lost money.
• Ask your utility company if they offer green energy. Some of them offer wind energy, but they are not very good about advertising it.
• Get involved, find out where your nearest coal plant is and how much its polluting.
• Invest in a solar panel or two (or five or ten) and stop relying on the grid. You might even generate enough of your own power that you can sell some back to the utility company.
• Look into getting a small wind turbine for your house. They are available now, and like solar panels, they are becoming more efficient and less costly.
• Recycle-everything. Let me say that again. Recycle everything. From the carton your eggs come in to the tube that your toilet paper is wrapped around. It takes a lot of energy to create things, the more we recycle, the less energy is used. (and material)
• Make your home energy efficient. It will save you money and the environment.
• Keep coming back to Twilight Earth for more information on everything Environmental.
• Press this LINK to find more great articles.
• Drop a comment in the box below, start some discussion!

Keep up the good fight and alter the eco!

Related posts:

1. Clean Coal Makes For Dirty Politics
2. Clean Coal – Hope or Hype? (video)
3. Wind Could Replace Most if Not All Coal Plants, says Interior Secretary