Fun Facts about Coal

Fun Facts about Coal

Coal formed about 300 million years ago and is one of the earth's fossil fuels. Coal is considered non-renewable because it takes about a million years to create. Coal is a type of sedimentary rock, made primarily of carbon and hydrocarbons. It is combustible. There are four primary types of coal, determined by the amount of carbon that they contain. These four types are: lignite, subbituminous, bituminous and anthracite. Coal has been used for energy and has been traded internationally since the Roman Empire. It also fueled the Industrial Revolution and was crucial in the development of electrical power. Coal deposits in the United States alone contain more energy than all of the world's oil reserves. Almost a hundred countries have accessible coal deposits and it's likely that all countries have at least some coal resources, even if they haven't been discovered or are not accessible. If we continue to use coal at the rate we use it today, we will have exhausted the world's supply in less than two hundred years. China is the main supplier of coal to the world and the United States is second.

Coal is mined either on the surface or underground, the former being the less expensive method. Coal is considered a “dirty” energy source because of its deleterious effects on the environment both from the mining and burning of coal as an energy source. Coal mining can contaminate ground and surface water. The burning of coal releases carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, into the air and contributes to global warming and the depletion of our ozone layer. In fact, it is believed that coal is responsible for twenty percent of all the greenhouse gases that are released into our atmosphere. Coal plants also emit mercury and are the largest source of this dangerous chemical, emitting about twenty-five pounds of it yearly. About six hundred coal plants produce in excess of one hundred million tons of sludge waste annually, which can end up polluting rivers and other bodies of water. Coal miners may also suffer ill effects from their jobs. The Center for Disease Control estimated that in a ten year study period, twelve thousand coal miners died from black lung disease.

Nevertheless, we are dependent on coal. The primary use for coal is to generate electricity. Coal is currently the cheapest source of electrical power. Therefore, if prices of other fuel sources such as oil and gas rise, coal is used more. Due to its low price, coal use in developing countries is growing at a rate of nearly two percent annually. Ninety percent of the coal in the United States is used for generating electricity and more than half of the United States' supply of electricity comes from coal. An estimated forty-one percent of the world's total electricity comes from coal and coal fulfills twenty-six percent of the world's energy needs. Coal does have other uses though. The ash that is a byproduct of coal combustion is used as filler for things such as tennis rackets, golf balls and linoleum. The steel and iron industry depend on coal. Coal can also be be used in the production of fertilizers and chemicals.