Coal and the Local Environment - Research Paper Example

Coal and the Local Environment Abstract This paper will discuss the impact of coal in depth with evidence to justify information written. To begin I will give a brief introduction which will preview coal in the world. Coal is one of the widely sources of energy in the world. It is one among the fossil fuels providing different sectors in the economy with most of the energy. Since the invention of coal as a resource that could provide energy, there are different issues that have risen. This essay will look at the different issues that are associated with coal. First, its effectiveness as a resource, its availability, and it trade. There are some countries that export coal while there are others that export thus they will be exampled. Coal has been said to be hazardous to human life and other living things through different ways. This will be discussed in depth. The opportunities and constraints in using coal will be looked into and in making a comparison between the benefits and the disadvantages of coal. From the latter, substitution to use of coal will be provided if necessary. There will be recommendations to show possible solutions to the problems already discussed. The essay will be ended in a conclusion that will give a summary of the research findings. The Coal Impact Introduction Fossil fuels provide 90 percent of the energy used in the world. Coal is one among the fossil fuels that provide the world with much energy to use in different areas. The uses of the rock have been wide for instance in industrial purposes like metal refining. The use of coal to produce electricity has raised many debates as different parties view the matter differently. This is attributed more by the disadvantages in using it since the benefits of it are outweighed by the disadvantages. Its availability in the world varies in different countries in the world. Some countries with large deposits of coal export it to different countries. Due to its emissions, researches have been carried out to identify substitutions to this key producer of electricity in the world. There are different types of coal and this attributes to the wide uses of it. The main reason why coal continues to be in high use is that it is cheap and cheaply available (Freese, 12-17). Its trade is also beneficial to the importers since they bargain. However, it is a non-renewable source. In this case, there is a need to look at the different types of coal since they will be widely used in the essay. There are four many types of coal. These are lignite coal, bituminous coal, non-bituminous coal, and anthracite coal. They are classified according to the amounts and types of carbon they contain and the amount of heat they can produce. They are put in ranks with the higher ones providing more heat (Grin, 15). Lignite is the lowest rank due to its low energy content. In most cases, they are young coal deposits that have not been exposed to too much pressure. It is brownish-black in color with a high inherent moisture content. This type is widely produced in USA with most of it coming from Texas and North Dakota. It is mostly used to produce electricity (Justus, 21). Sub bituminous type has higher heating value that lignite. It has a higher amount of carbon compared to lignite. Still in United States, it is in plenty contributing to over 40 percent of the coal produced in the country. It is dull or at times dark brown to black and soft. Its moisture content is lowered than that of lignite (Maas, 13). Bituminous coal has thrice the heating value of lignite since it was formed under high heat and pressure. It is used primarily as fuel in steam-electric power generation with other amounts been used in manufacturing to make coke for steel and iron industries. Its moisture content is low with high heat production (Bradshaw, 32). Anthracite is the highest in ranking and it is widely used in residential and commercial space heating. It is also called hard coal and it is brittle and black in color. It has very high percentages of carbon and low percentage of volatile matter. It has the least moisture content. It has high heat content. It can be in a way said to be the most expensive type of coal (Rottenberg, 10). World Coal Resources According to the European Union, solid fuel production in Europe was expected to fall from 467 million short tons in 2005 to 324 million short tons in 2030 (Walter and Thomas, 23-26). Despite this, the consumption of energy is expected to rise phenomenally over the same period. Since Europe is one of the continents that depend much on coal, then it is expected in the years before 2030 their imports of coal will rise. China and India are countries with many coal deposits. It is projected that the indigenous resources of the two countries will represent a key aspect of meeting world energy supply and stimulating a shift in coal trade patterns (GEF, 27). A BP Review of world energy of 2006 identified that the world proven coal reserves are about 1000 billion short tons. The volume is split between bituminous coal and sub-bituminous coal. There are five countries that have contributed to the great shares in the total coal volume with the leading one been United States holding 27% then, the Russian Federation with 17%, China 12.6%, India 10.2%, and Australia with 8.6% (GEF, 45-47). The latter volume from analysis suggests a reserve-production ratio of about 155 years. This makes coal to be more plenty in comparison with other fossil fuels mainly oil and gas. A country like India is said to have sufficient energy to last in the next 210 years while China will only consume its coal for the next 45 years (Philibert, 23). The amount of coal is therefore reducing annually due to the increased consumption. In the nearby future, it is projected that India and China will be the fastest growing markets for coal exporters. This will apply in other countries exporting coal. For instance, in Australia it is estimated that the exports by 2025 will have increased to 203 million short tons compared to 2005 when the exports were 138 million short tons. This implies increased trading activities between Australia and importers of coal with Australia and Indonesia been approximated to provide much coal for trade (Freese, 41). The countries that have been estimated to have increased trading activities in coal have began finding ways of improving their infrastructure so that they can benefit wholly from the trade. In Australia for instance, they have began extending the railway line. They will improve their economies through the trade of coal however; the effects of the same may be hazardous in future due to the increased exploitation. As much as countries using coal to produce electricity will have their environment affected, the countries exporting the rock material will be in severer situation (Maas, 45-46). World Coal Trade After discovery of coal, its international trade was only in bituminous coal and anthracite coal that were used for power generation and coke making. This was hard coal with simple extraction way. Coal for steel making required quality standards in its extraction since steel making requires a specific combination or a blend of characteristics. The characteristics that are required for the coal are rare and in reason, high-grade coking coal is not in abundance in the world. This type of coal was the first one to be systematically traded. This was more in the 1960s and 1970s during the development of the Australia-Japan coal trade. In today’s coal markets most of high quality coking coal comes from Australia, the USA, and Canada (GEF, 54). These countries have therefore enjoyed the trade in coal since this type of coal is marketable unlike other types of coal that are bargained. In specific, Australia has enjoyed benefits from coal trade since the 1960s since it has reserves for the high quality coking coal. Thermal coal is a type of coal that does not need much blending. International trade of this type began with Japan and Australia however, significant intra-regional trade of the same type of coal was significant in Europe. In the process of trading in this type of coal, limits were set by efficiency, as coals with lower heat value and high moisture were more costly to transport. This is still the case in the international markets although there is a steady penetration of Indonesian sub-bituminous coals into the Asian market (Grin, 32). Coal trade patterns have shown tremendous improvements since the times of international coal industry. In the early 1980s, Australia was still an exporter of coal although a minor exporter. Indonesia was still not evident in the coal international trade until in the 1990s. Currently Australia is the world’s largest thermal coal exporter. The importers of coal have also been having the same patterns. Regional trade of coal existed in Europe in 1970s with supply coming from Germany and Poland. In 1980s, demand was dominated by Japan while Korea and Taiwan saw significant markets during the same times. In the start of 2000, the demand was increasing rapidly from smaller countries in Asia with the emergence of China as a major exporter of coal (Minchener, 19). The trade patterns are unpredictable since some countries have dedicated export facilities as well as mines that are utilized for local purposes. Large quantities of coal are consumed relatively in the areas where they are mined since in most cases export may not work. In addition, export of coal requires dedicated infrastructure so it is rare for coal production to address different markets. The major exporters of coal are (in million short tons): Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Share Australia 238.1 247.6 255.0 255.0 268.5 278.0 288.5 26.5% Indonesia 107.8 131.4 142.0 192.2 221.9 228.2 261.4 24.0% Russia 41.0 55.7 98.6 103.4 112.2 115.4 130.9 12.0% Colombia 50.4 56.4 59.2 68.3 74.5 74.7 75.7 6.9% South Africa 78.7 74.9 78.8 75.8 72.6 68.2 73.8 6.8% USA 43.0 48.0 51.7 51.2 60.6 83.5 60.4 5.5% China 103.4 95.5 93.1 85.6 75.4 68.8 38.4 3.5% Canada 27.7 28.8 31.2 31.2 33.4 36.5 31.9 2.9% Vietnam 6.9 11.7 19.8 23.5 35.1 21.3 28.2 2.6% Kazakhstan 30.3 27.4 28.3 30.5 32.8 47.6 25.7 2.4% Poland 28.0 27.5 26.5 25.4 20.1 16.1 14.6 1.3% Total 713.9 764.0 936.0 1000.6 1073.4 1087.3 1090.8 100% The table above should not be confused with the great coal producing countries. The major coal producing countries are China, USA, India, EU, Australia, and Russia. Coal in China China is the leading producer of coal in the world. In the country, coal provides three quarters of the powered used in the country. It expected that power generation in the state would triple in the next twenty years with much of the power coming from coal. Most of the coal that is produced in the country is burnt in industrial boilers. This is widely used in the light industry and the textile industry. These are more in the northern cities in the city (Bradshaw, 33). In China, environmental pollution has been witnessed since the country one of the most polluted cities in the world. This has been attributed due to high rates of coal. Over 500 cities in China are said to be below the health standards of World Health Organization (WHO). Sulfur dioxide levels in the cities are high and this has led to many health problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that is the leading cause of death in China. The expected increased coal use will lead to production of more sulfur dioxide. China is the second CO2 emitter after United States contributing about 15% of the CO2 emitted in the world. Since China is increasing its coal consumption, this has important price consequences for other consumers (Justus, 34). The government through different programs has begun promoting clean coal. However, this is likely to take long since the issue has affected a great population in the city. One of the technologies for clean coal that they have already implemented is coal combustion with a subcritical steam cycle. Coal in India In India sale of lignite resources and coal is under the government through its ministry of Coal. The ministry addresses all issues related to supply, production, sale price of coal and distribution. There are different companies that are associated with coal in the country like Coal India Limited (CIL), Singareni Colliery Company Limited (SCCL), and Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). There are other ministries that are still involved in coal and its use like the ministry of Mines and the ministry of Power. The ministry of steel also plays a key role in this (Rottenberg, 58). Of most important is the ministry of environment and forests that regulates the environmental impacts of mining coal. The environment has to be conserved and this is under sustainable development. This country has potential coal deposits making it to be ranked as the second in the world in producing coal. It has around an area of 22,400 square kilometers covered by potential coal-bearing areas with almost 45 percent having been explored. The major deposits are Gondwana coals in the eastern and southeastern part, Tertiary coals in Assam, and Jammu. The types are bituminous and sub-bituminous. Mining of coal in this country has happened for over 250 years. The main methods of mining that are used are opencast and underground mining (Walter and Thomas, 46). Coal in the United States Coal mining in United States is a major industry with 25 states having coal deposits. It is one among the leading exporters of coal in the world. The leading states in terms of coal production are Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, Texas and Pennsylvania. More than 90 percent of the annually mined coal in the United States is used internally in the US electrical power industry. This is the reason why US is among the leading producers of coal and yet not among the leading exporters of the product. Coal used in US accounts to almost half of the electricity used in the country (Grin, 59). Coal production in US is expected to increase by an average of 1.6 percent per annum through 2030. This is in response to the increasing demand for use of coal in the world. The coal productivity in the country is also expected to shift from the eastern portion to the western portion. Coal in Australia There are three states in Australia that produce coal. They are Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. Over 50 percent of the coal produced in the continent is exported with the rest been used in generation of electricity. About 85 percent of the electricity consumed in Australia comes from coal. Australia is among the leading producers of coal and still the leading in exporting the product. It began exports of coal in the 1960s as they exported to Japan and other states in Asia (Maas, 64). In the environment, the people in the continent are concerned about any type of mining that may have a risk to human life. The issues of impacts of coal production is been discussed widely in the continent. This shows the much concern the people have to preserve their environment for their own good and for future generations. Coal in Russia Russia celebrated its long producing ages of coal. It is one of the countries with large reserves of coal in the world and it is currently the fifth largest producer of coal in the world. There are two main locations with huge coal deposits and they are Ural Mountains and Siberia. Most of the mining businesses in the country have been privatized. It is also a large exporter of coal and this is expected to grow with the increasing demand of coal in Asia (Minchener, 23). Coal in EU One third of the EU’s electricity production comes from coal. Nine member states are leading in producing coal. It is notably that the production in EU is decreasing and this is making the demand to be outweighed by the supply thus, they import much of the coal they use. In EU there are many controversies over the use of coal and more so due to global warming. On importation, the major importers of coal are Japan, China, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Germany, and United Kingdom (GEF, 34). Emission Mitigation Coal and the Local and Global Environment In comparison with other fossil fuels, coal is the least clean with respect to issues in local and global environments. Some environmental impacts are in the mining industry, coal transportation, and environmental media. The main emissions are greenhouse gases. Coal combustion emits sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, mercury together with other metals, and radioactive materials. The latter cause pollution problems and this has destroyed the ozone layer resulting to acid rain and climate change. The emissions of CO2 and methane are also high compared to other fossil fuels (Philibert, 54). The different types of coal are used for different functions in which they undergo different processes. The ultimate aim is to produce heat for different purposes depending on the type of coal. It is expected that the use of coal to produce heat will be increasing over the years. Since gas and oil are projected to be depleted in the nearby future, coal will remain to be the largest fossil fuel available. This will still add to increased use of coal. This will add to increased local, regional, and global pollution problems unless cleaner and effective technologies to produce energy are used. A solution that seems to help is capturing and storing CO2 emitted to reduce the global emissions of CO2 since there are still other sources of CO2. There is a need to research in clean coal technologies and this has already begun in the United States. Barrack Obama, the current president, has played a crucial role towards mitigating climate change through clean coal technologies (Bradshaw, 65). The picture below shows a ship transporting coal. Efficient Coal Use This is the primary means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by capturing and storing it. There are also other dimensions to achieve this like increase of the share of biomass in the electricity mix through co-firing of biomass and coal. Another dimension is reduction of methane emissions. The issue is worse in developing countries since they contribute over 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in the world. In addition, the countries do not have technologies to mitigate this since they are in severe poverty and solving other issues. In the industries, they also have poor ways of regulating temperatures and this result to high heat. These industries emit a lot of CO2 with the increased temperatures favoring production of more CO2. To add salt to injury, the same countries are industrializing thus it is projected that without right measures to mitigate the emissions they will increase over the years. Some methods can be employed to reduce the emissions however they call for much technology. They are co-firing and re-powering with biomass, efficiently re-powering with super critical boiler and repowering with CHP. Repowering enables increase in power generated while reducing the amounts of CO2 emitted. This is advantageous in other ways since it reduces the costs and implementation time (Maas, 66). Clean Coal Use There are different environmental control technologies that were developed to prevent the formation of SO2 and nitrogen dioxides. This happens when coal is burned to generate electricity at conventional, coal-fired power stations. They include a variety of process from coal washing to combustion to end-of-pipe techniques. All the technologies contribute towards the reduction of the emissions already stated. Coal washing helps to reduce the amount of ash in raw coal to make combustion efficient and increase the energy produced. The sulfur content in raw coal can also be reduced. Coal blending and briquetting are also crucial preparation techniques. Next, there are processes for particulate control and they rely on electrostatic precipitators. 90 percent of the SO2 produced can be removed through flue desulfurization units. In addition, other technologies are employed in industries to reduce nitrogen dioxides to meet the demanding standards. There are different organs that are trying to implement this in different industries while still researching more on how to make the processes 100 percent effective in reducing all the SO2 and NOx produced (Rottenberg, 54). There are advanced combustion technologies that are also employed. They are alternatives to the technologies above and they are mainly Fluidized-Bed Combustion (FBC) and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC). The latter reduce the amounts of SO2 and NOx produced by using an absorbent such as limestone. These technologies are cheap and they can be used in developing countries since they can help to reduce almost 90 percent of the greenhouse gases produced. Another option that can be used to save in this is polygeneration that means gasification of coal with other fossil fuels. This is however used more in oil industry than in the coal industry (Minchener, 76). CO2 Capture and Storage The technologies of capturing and storing CO2 are not new since they have been in use for long. The technologies separate CO2 from gas mixtures. Three approaches are used to capture CO2. The widely used approach is capturing CO2 from the combustion products. This approach is called the post-combustion capture approach. The other approaches are done before combustion. Oxygen combustion approach is used to increase CO2 concentrations in flue gas prior to capture. In hydrogen approach, coal is gasified to produce synthesis gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A water shift then takes place to produce H2 and CO2 for CO2 capture. In the earth surface, some deposits are filled with CO2. In such cases, the gas is stored in other forms. However, this has one problem, leakage, which may make the whole process to be unsuccessful (Freese, 73). Opportunities for Renewable Resources Most of fossil fuels we have in the world will last for around 200 years to come. After that, the world will be faced with problems in getting energy. However, before that the world may be in a severe situation due to pollution caused by the use of the same non-renewable resources. An opportunity to save on this is to advance in the use of renewable sources of energy like geothermal power and wind power. Many countries, more so the developed countries have been in research to find ways of utilizing renewable resources of energy in order to protect the environment. The renewable resources are clean for human use and for other living organisms. In United States, there has been a long debate between the republicans and the democrats on the use of fossil fuels. The main problem however lies in the developing countries since they will not be able to employ most of the renewable resources of energy (Justus, 67-70). International Technology Collaboration There are different ongoing collaborative efforts on clean coal technologies. This involves research, development, and demonstration together with information exchange. The European Union for example is financing for cooperation among its member states. The international scientific community is also coming together to find solutions to emissions. We have different centers that are doing research on the issue like the IEA clean coal centre that was formed in 1975 in the wake of the oil crisis (GEF, 81). Programs are also been run like the greenhouse Gas R&D program that was set up in 1991 to address the emission of CO2 in the atmosphere. These programs have been recognized as useful sources of information on the issue. Professionals in different institutions have taken the matter on their hands to find long lasting solutions. This can be seen from some universities in the United States (Walter and Thomas, 57). The figure below shows coal production since 1960 to 2100. Summary and Conclusions Fossil fuels are the key factors leading to climate change and depletion of the ozone layer that result to acid rain. Mining of coal is increasing among the countries with coal deposits to meet the global demand, which is increasing. It is expected that most of the reserves will be depleted in the nearby future. Despite this, coal is the only fossil fuel that will endure for long since oil and gas will be depleted in the nearby future. The matter has been taken with much depth however, there are some challenges in implementing the technologies more so in the developing countries. Some technologies have been discovered to help in this issue. There is a need to employ the methods. Different states should come together and find ways of solving the issue to save the environment for future generations. An alternative is change to non-fossil fuels. This has begun in some countries thus those who have not should begin. This will help to save het environment for our own benefits and for future generations. The developed countries should lead by example so that the developing countries can copy. This will be for the good of all and not a single nation. International organizations like UNEP should play a key role in this. Works Cited Bradshaw, John. Mapping world geological storage potential of CO2: Insights and implications. ETIP. Seminar Series, Cambridge MA, 2005. Freese, Benich. Coal: A Human History. Perseus: Cambridge, MA, 2003. Global Environment Facility (GEF). Programme Study on Climate Change. GEF council document, 2004. Grin, Gilles. The Battle of the Single European Market: Achievements and Economic Thought, 1945–2000. London:Kegan Paul, 2003. Justus, Daniel. International Energy Technology Collaboration and Climate Change Mitigation Case Study: Wind Power Integration into Electricity Systems, OECD/IEA Information Paper, Paris, 2005. Maas, Willem. Creating European Citizens. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Minchener, Andrew. Coal in China. London: IEA Clean Coal Centre, 2004. Philibert, Cham. International Energy Technology Collaboration and Climate Change Mitigation, OECD/IEA Information Paper, Paris, 2004. Rottenberg, Dan. In the Kingdom of Coal; an American Family and the Rock That Changed the World. Washington, DC: Routledge, 2003. Walter Licht and Thomas Dublin . The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century. London: Cornell University Press, 2005. Read More