The price of coal has increased by 15.2 percent to $41.01 per short ton. This is reported by The Annual Coal Report distributed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the past 30 years, the amount of electricity produced by coal has more than tripled. Studies by the Coal Association, the European Commission, MIT and the US Congressional Budget office, show that coal power plants produce less expensive electricity than nuclear or gas plants.
Coal is formed as a layer of plant debris at the bottom of water bodies. It is buried under rock and sediment for millions of years and compressed by heat and pressure to form coal. The plants which form coal were using energy from the sun. The sun is the original source of energy obtained from the burning of coal. Coal is considered a nonrenewable resource because it cannot be replenished on a human time frame. The attractive pricing of coal bolsters it’s consumption. The countries with the highest consumption rate of coal are China, USA, India, Russia and Japan.
By-products of coal are used in paper manufacturing and in chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Ammonia gas caught in coke ovens, are utilized in ammonia salts, nitric acid and agricultural fertilizers. Thousands of everyday products such as soap, aspirin, dyes cleaning solvents and articles made of rayon and nylon use coal as an essential ingredient. Several countries import coal to meet the electricity needs of their population.
The majority of coal mining in the U.S. is surface mining. Surface mining includes strip mining. Strip mining is completed by heavy equipment. Strips of soil and rock are removed to extract the mineral. This procedure is used the most often in mining for coal. The strips of rock and soil are put back in former excavation cavities. The most controversial method is the mountain top removal mining. Dynamite is used to blast the mountaintop off to remove the mineral. Opponents of such methods find that the topography of the mountain is changed and flat. They also believe it disturbs the ecosystem of the surrounding area. Supporters of mountaintop removal claim that once the site is reclaimed, the flat structure left provides flat land which can be utilized in many ways. They contend that the new land is sturdier and able to hold larger populations of game animals.
Coal has been utilized since prehistoric times, and chances of the use of the abundant mineral ceasing completely are slim to none. Archeologists have found evidence of coal’s use by Romans in England in the second and third centuries (200 – 300 AD). Coal will continue to provide a low-cost alternative to nuclear or gas energies. However, the demand for clean energy is making the projection of coal-related energy tenuous. Future statistics lead us to believe the production of clean and renewable energy sources such as hydropower and biomass will increase while coal production will decrease in the decades to come.