Indubitably electric energy plays a major role in our lives and a huge part of this energy is produced by coal fueled power plants, about 40%. Of course more than three are the things to be said concerning coal, but for now I want to focus on these three only.
Indubitably electric energy plays a major role in our lives and a huge part of this energy is produced by coal fueled power plants, about 40%.
Of course more than three are the things to be said concerning coal, but for now I want to focus on these three only.
You must be aware of the fact that the use of coal causes big damages to our planet and lives and most of them can only be recovered in a very, very long time, some of them never.
Mining coal
Coal is not one of those things that you can find on Earth’s surface, is quite hidden, and if it's so, there should be a reason.
It needs to be extracted in order to be used; this is a process that negatively impacts people’s lives and environment.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mining is the second most dangerous occupation in the USA. Every year in less advanced countries all around the world many thousands of fatal work injuries occur and a very high percentage of miners are affected from respiratory diseases such as chronic lung diseases that need drugs treatment and reduce life expectancy.
As if it wasn’t enough, mining leaves big and visible signs in the landscape, eliminating completely vegetation and destroying habitat and wildlife (surface mining), causing erosion, landslide, air pollution, etc., that may cover areas for several square kilometers.
This is only the beginning, yeah, I would say enough damage, but there's more!
Washing coal
After extraction, the coal has to be cleaned from “impurities” and this usually produces acid drainage that seeping into waterways and aquifers can be very dangerous for human and ecological health. The storage is a cause of the same type of problems. Wait, there’s more.
Once cleaned coal is ready to be moved to the power station where it is burned.
Burning coal
Sadly, burning coal releases into the atmosphere tons or even hundreds of thousands of tons of pollutants every year. Lead together with arsenic, uranium, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, only mentioning some of them, are constantly injected in the atmosphere by the thousands of coal fueled power plants, no matter how many filters are used.
Some people say that alternative energy plants like wind factories are an offense for the landscape, but I wonder if they have ever seen a coal fueled power plant, with all that smog going up... Is it such a marvelous decoration for the landscape?
Coal is one of the most energy efficient combustible but unfortunately only a fraction of its potential can be converted in useful electric energy.
The energetic content, measured in kJ per kg is up to 35,300 and just about 20% of it can be successfully converted into electricity, the remaining 80% is scattered and practically impossible to recover.
Quantifying 100 as the overall energetic input in an ordinary coal fueled power plant makes the useful energy output equal to 20, the remaining 80 is waste and pollution. Considering some renewable energy sources as follows, with the same energy input of 100 in a hydro power plant the obtained output is 80 and the waste is only 20 and no pollution is produced, with 100 as energy input in wind turbine technology power plants the output is up to 50 with the actual technology (potentially bigger in the future), and for a waste of the remaining 50 there is no pollution at all, same for PV technology that can convert up to 60 for an input of 100. OK now you do the math!
That was just to scratch the surface of the problem; it’s obvious that something wrong is happening on the Earth.
It’s not the moment to discuss that; in fact I want you to focus on the harmful consequences that we all are living with, day in day out, while ignoring the evidence. The usage of coal is devastation for the planet we live in, consequently for us, from the first stage to the last.
I don’t want you to misunderstand me - coal, along with other sources, has been indispensable till now to reach the level of comfort and technology we have today. I just want to raise public awareness on something that urges to be considered as serious problem of world interest, in order to move towards a solution as soon as possible before it gets too late.
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