reason many nations are trying to limit or phase out the use of coal as well as other fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas Scientists and environmentalists have warned that continued reliance on fossil fuels threatens man-made climate problems such as sea level rise and water shortages Coal’s environmental dangers combined with the collapse in the coal market are causing governments to refuse further permitting of new mines and coal-fired power plants In early 2016 for example the US government stopped issuing new leases for coal mining on publicly owned land Banks see the industry as a bad investment and some have stopped granting loans Nevertheless coal remains an essential resource around the world The coal business goes hand-in-hand with the rising demand for electricity Power plants use coal to fire immense boilers Coal in BTUs Although coal is categorized by rank another important categorization has to do with British thermal units or BTUs The BTU is a measure of heating energy one BTU generates enough heat to raise the temperature of one pound 0 45 kg of water by one degree Fahrenheit 0 6ºC The BTU scale allows the coal industry to compare the efficiency of different kinds of coal and also to compare coal with other heat sources such as natural gas and petroleum For example high-grade coal can 10 contain approximately 15,000 BTUs per pound Lignite the coal with the lowest carbon content provides 4,000 to 8,300 BTUs per pound 6 Utilities also measure efficiency by the amount of fuel it takes to generate a single kilowatt-hour of electricity For coal the average amount is 1 04 pounds 0 47 kg while for natural gas it is approximately 10 cubic feet 0 3 cu m and for petroleum 0 07 gallons 0 26 L 7
and run electric turbines When electricity use rises so does the use of coal Increasing demand for electricity especially in developing countries means steady demand for the cheap and abundant coal that fuels power plants Millions of people in developing nations such as China and India aspire to a more comfortable and convenient life This means running electric lights appliances televisions and devices such as cellphones and laptops Wind solar and biomass energy although environmentally friendly are not produced reliably enough or cheaply enough to compete with coal In the future as the market for these fuel sources grows the renewable industry will scale up production This in turn should lower costs for the end user creating even tougher competition Things Get Hotter with Coke Although most coal is mined for power plants another important end use is in steelmaking Approximately 70 percent of steel produced uses metallurgical or coking coal 8 Steel is highly refined iron ore The ore dug from the ground must be converted using high temperatures produced by coal In a process called coking steel producers heat the coal using ovens that reach approximately 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit 1,000ºC in an oxygen-free atmosphere The material is then sent to a blast furnace where it produces carbon monoxide The carbon monoxide reacts with iron ore to produce finished iron or steel for coal Syngas which can be made by superheating coal may also provide fuel for vehicles and home heating plants Manufacturing syngas however is not an environmentally friendly process as it relies on fossil fuel sources as does the manufacture of hydrogen fuel 11
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Coal is a hugely important resource and humans burn mountains of it every day The coal business is facing very serious challenges including in 2015 and 2016 a steep fall in the market price for coal Regulations on emissions and on the mining process also put the brakes on the coal industry’s growth But the coal industry has improved its safety record and coal mining is now safer than logging fishing farming or construction work As an industry conference concluded in 2015 It is widely agreed coal is set to stay in the energy mix for a long time to come because there is no alternative solution that can provide reasonably priced electricity 9 Coal mining will survive as long as alternative sources fail to meet the rising demand for energy 13
