The challenge the industry faces lies in developing technologies and pathways to zero emissions, especially carbon dioxide, which scientists identify as a factor in climate change. Coal also serves many industrial uses. Coal, What It is - Coal is a combustible organic rock, composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It is formed from vegetation, which has been consolidated between other rock strata and altered by the combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years to form coal seams.
As the figure below demonstrates, coal exists in significant quantities throughout the world, and is far more plentiful than oil or gas, with coal reserves worldwide in accounting for years of production.
Approximately million people across the globe currently live without access to electricity. Nearly 2. Without a commitment to achieve universal energy access, it has been estimated that by there will be an additional 1. Economy As the National Mining Association reports, the coal industry is a vital source of jobs that create positive ripple effects throughout society and our economy. These include the direct employment of nearly , people and the creation of 3.
Coal mines are an especially important source of employment in rural economies throughout America. Although emissions of pollutants other than carbon dioxide from coal generation have declined substantially since the s, coal use in the U.
The U. In fact, coal is no longer the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and the U. As the World Coal Association WCA further points out, low emissions technologies exist which make significant reductions in CO2 emissions from coal use.
High efficiency, low emissions HELE coal technologies, together with carbon capture and sequestration or storage CCS , are critical to meeting energy needs and climate goals. Trucks rumbled by, throwing up dust, as the women emptied their baskets of shrimp. They kept every bit of themselves covered: wide brimmed hats, face masks, gloves. To feed those plants, Vietnam will need to import 90 million tons of coal by But coal projects are also sparking community opposition rare in a country that squelches dissent.
Villagers blocked a highway in to protest a Chinese project in the southeast. Provincial authorities quashed another proposed plant in the Mekong Delta. Most plants in Vietnam use old, polluting technologies that many investors, including Marubeni, have recently promised not to back in future projects. Vietnam says it is on track to meet its emissions-reduction targets under the Paris accord.
So, too, China and India, with far bigger carbon footprints. But those targets were set by the countries themselves, and they will not be enough to keep global temperatures from rising to calamitous levels. The United States has said it will exit the Paris pact. Those facts loom over the next round of international climate negotiations, starting Dec.
The U. That idea has been central to politics. President Donald Trump has promised, unsuccessfully so far, to revive coal-mining jobs and instructed his Environmental Protection Agency to roll back rules to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. That message might be welcome in U. There are cheaper fuels, including natural gas; gas accounts for about 31 percent of total power generation in the United States, the same share as coal. China has imposed tariffs on coal imports from the United States in a tit-for-tat trade dispute.
Coal-mining jobs have plummeted over the last decade, despite a modest increase of about 4 percent in the first 18 months of the Trump presidency.
Washington, Oregon and California all are seeking to phase out of coal power. But coal power also is imported to the state. Ajay Mishra, the career civil servant in charge of energy in the central Indian state of Telangana, knows firsthand. Five years ago, he said, daily power cuts cursed his state. Ceiling fans cut out on stifling summer afternoons. Factories ran on diesel-guzzling generators. The people of Telangana were furious.
State officials had to do something to fix the electricity problem. They harnessed the sun, briefly making Telangana a leading solar-power producer in India. They also turned to what government officials have relied on for over a century: the vast vein of coal that sat underground, stretching across the hills and forests of central India.
Telangana now has round-the-clock electricity. Its farmers get it free to pump water. Energy and the environment. Also in What is energy? Forms of energy Sources of energy Laws of energy. Also in Units and calculators explained Units and calculators Energy conversion calculators British thermal units Btu Degree days. Also in U. Also in Use of energy explained Use of energy Energy use in industry Energy use for transportation Energy use in homes Energy use in commercial buildings Energy efficiency and conservation.
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