Coal+Power

=== Coal Power  ===

 What is coal power:

Coal is primarily used as a solid fuel and what it is used for is to produce electricity and it heats through combustion. What is an amazing number is the worlds coal combustion which is 6.2 billion tons annually. The USA uses about 1.053 billion tons of coal each year. 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 the turbines which turn generators and create electricity.

 **Inside of a coal power plant and how it works .. ** 

 **What a coal power plant looks like.. **

Australian Coal Export Destinations (

2006/07)3  Australia sells coal to over 30 countries, but what the graph is showing its biggest buyers.. Australia exports coal to over 30 countries. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India are the biggest buyers, accounting for about three-quarters of the nation’s coal exports.3

[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeXG8K5_UvU__] 
 * A Video on how coal power works- **<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Little bit about Coal- Since 2004, as you all know the oil prices have increased a whole lot. There is no garantee that the oil prices will come back down to their previous cheap prices. Since the oill prices have gone up so high people are trying to think of diffrent way to save money and energy. ** <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> **<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some thoughts in doing so ** <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:

<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Coal is an example of this last type of energy source, as the demand of oil increases the less and less we have of it which is not good because we rely on oil a whole lot. By turning to coal can turn to a plus because we have a whole lot of it that we can use. The worlds reserves of coal are very large, and with the current rates of consumption it could last for 200 years. The United States is the biggest consumer of energy which is not the best thing to brag about. When it comes to cal though ever though the U.S consumes the most energy, the U.S has the largest coal reserves. Also a plus about coal is that it should remain a cheap energy source. Coal is not expensive to extract or to use to produce energy.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Encouraging energy savings
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developing new energy sources, if possible sources which are renewable

<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> However, the important issue as of now is whether there are more advantages than disadvantages of fossil fuels like coal...
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coal is a fossil fuel like oil and gas. Fossil fuels are all formed out of organic matter deposited, decomposed and compressed, storing all the carbon involved under the earth's surface for millions of years.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the advantages of coal are **<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> -
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Easily combustible, and produces high energy upon combustion helping in locomotion and in the generation of electricity and various other forms of energy
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Widely and easily distributed all over the world;
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Comparatively inexpensive due to large reserves and easy accessibility
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good availability
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inexpensive
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal, fairly cheaply.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere, so long as you can get large quantities of fuel to it. Most coal fired power stations have dedicated rail links to supply the coal.

**<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some disadvantages of coal are that **<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it are Non-renewable and fast depleting;
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, that had been stored in the earth for millions of years, contributing to global warming.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it leaves behind harmful by-products upon combustion, thereby causing a lot of pollution;
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mining of coal leads to irreversible damage to the adjoining environment;
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mining and burning of coal pollutes the environment, causes acid rain and ruins all living creature's lungs.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will eventually run out.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It cannot be recycled.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prices for all fossil fuels are rising, especially if the real cost of their carbon is included.

<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> **<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little more on disadvantages- ** <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Lines for technological research are developing rapidly, particularly in the United States, where research programmes exist on: - The gasification of coal to produce hydrogen for fuel cells; - The capture and confinement of CO2 which, once injected into oil wells, contributes to improvement in the hydrocarbon recovery rate. <span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, technical limitations: coal cannot be used for transport purposes, unless we go back to steam machines or, more seriously, if we move to electric vehicles;
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the we got the ecological problems: the burning of coal is very polluting to our atmosphere. Like oil, coal contains sulphur that gives off sulphur dixide when it is burnt. In the atmosphere this becomes sulphuric acid and this means that is harmful to forests.
 * <span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the burning of coal, like that of gas and oil, produces carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas. And in this instance, there is no current solution. Even if ideas have been put forward (the injection of CO2 into the subsurface rock