...Over the years, Americans have been using coal as an energy source to produce electricity, heating, and fuelling automobiles. However, using coal as an energy source to run our daily lives, has its disadvantages, such as polluting the Earth. Coal is known as an organic compound that is mostly made up of carbons. This stores an extensive amount of energy that can be released when burning in a fire. When coal is produced, it goes through a process called “coalification”, where decayed vegetation or organic matter are compacted with sediment, to extract the water out and applied with heat and time to produce coal. Later on, coal is used to fuel production in factories and releases nitrogen oxide reaches the air, these compounds react with sulfur...
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...I have conducted this research paper because I want to discover or shall we say explore more about the essence of using paper coal rather than gas stove or wood. I want to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of using paper coal. I hope that other people may read my research paper and understand its content.I wanted to find out whether paper charcoal could be an alternative for regular charcoal so that fewer trees will be cut down for the purpose of making charcoal. I also hope to prove that paper charcoal is better than charcoal in terms of: a. Speed b. Reliability c. Reusability d. Value for money Statement of problem. This study aims of comparing paper charcoal composed of newspaper against commercial charcoal made of wood. Specifically on the following manner: 1. Which type of charcoal has the best speed? 2. Which type of charcoal is the more trusted in cooking? 3. Can each type of charcoal be used more than once? 4. Which one is worth your money? Significance of my research: 1. Environment- the study aims to prove that paper charcoal is better, thus reducing the number of trees cut down. 2. Community- the study benefits the community because if proven right, people start to buy or make paper charcoal and doing either is cheaper than buying regular charcoal. Many schools had already conducted this research paper but I still choose this because I want to endorse this research paper within my own school. This research is limited to the effectiveness...
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...Coal: Good Energy Source or Major Pollutant? According to Wikipedia, “Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layer or veins called coal beds or coal seams. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, with smaller quantities of sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen.” As humankind discovered coal and its ability to be used as an energy source thousands of years ago, man began harvesting coal and using it as a natural resource. While the demand for coal and useable energy rose, humankind had to find faster, more efficient ways to dig for coal. Strip mining, mountain bombing, and mountaintop removal began to arise as the predominant ways of retrieving coal during the 1950’s and remain as the predominant ways of retrieving coal to this day. The common issues that most activists focus on surrounding coal and its removal are the stripping of the land the coal came from and the waste removal process of the “unusable” remains from the mining process. The stripping of the land causes a change in the ecological system surrounding the coal mining location. From the effects that coal mining has on the local animals in the area to the rock and sediment the mining removes, ecological debates surround the coal mining process. In addition, as the “unusable” remains from the mining process are dumped into local streams and creeks, the natural drinking water becomes contaminated...
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...Advanced Clean Coal Technology DeVry University Technology Society and Culture Professor Paul Team D Table of Contents Renee M King I A brief description of the why the technology is needed …………….page 3 II The historical development and context of the technology …………..page 5 III The technology in its cultural context, media influence……………....page 9 IV Psychological considerations and sociological effects…………..….page 10 V Economic questions and considerations VI Implications for the Environment VI Political and legal influences IX Moral and Ethical Implications References Advanced Clean Coal Technology I A brief description of the why the technology is needed The most plentiful fuel in the fossil fuel family, coal has been used since the caveman days to heat their homes. In the 1700s, people found that it would heat cleaner and hotter than wood charcoal. The Industrial Revolutions overwhelming need for energy to run the new technologies providing the real opportunity for coal to dominant as a worldwide supplier of energy. (A brief history of coal use). As other sources of energy was discovered the use of coal diminished. However, 4 decades ago it became popular again as an energy source. The 1970’s brought about an oil crisis that showed industrialized countries that any disruption in the petroleum supply line would send a shockwave through energy production. (Morse, 2012). Even though coal is considered...
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...Lab Research Report 2: Global Warming: Cause and Mitigation Rhys Greer September 14, 2014 Dr. Rana Miller Strong University Compare and contrast natural versus anthropogenic climate changes. Include specific examples of each. In an article written by the United States Environmental Association (EPA) it lists natural changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, volcanic eruptions and solar energy as some of the natural causes of climate changes on earth. The article goes on to say “Recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research indicates that natural causes are very unlikely to explain most observed warming, especially warming since the mid-20th century. Rather, human activities can very likely explain most of that warming.” These human activities are the causes of anthropogenic climate changes. The article also adds “Since the Industrial Revolution began around 1750; human activities have contributed substantially to climate change by adding CO2 and other heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. These greenhouse gas emissions have increased the greenhouse effect and caused Earth’s surface temperature to rise. The primary human activity affecting the amount and rate of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.” Some human activities that initiate climate changes are caused by the gas emissions from fossil fuels used to heat homes, petroleum based fuels like gasoline and diesel used for transportation...
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...monthly we are billed for our household usage by the kilowatt, but there are other costs we’ve neglected to consider. Duke Energy, the largest electrical power holding company in the United States, plead guilty to nine violations of the Federal Clean Water Act in a hearing held this past May, which culminated in a fine of $102 million. The violations resulted from a spill of about 39,000 tons of coal ash due to a collapsed pipe under a coal ash dump that coated 70 miles of the Dan River near Eden, North Carolina with sludge. Coal ash is the inorganic residue left behind when pulverized coal is burned to produce electricity. Coal ash is one of the largest types of industrial waste generated in the United States and in 2012 the nation’s coal plants generated nearly 10 1milloin tons of it. A little less than half of coal ash produced in the United States is recycled into products like concrete, pavement or wallboard. However, the rest is stored, in over 2,000 storage sites across the country, in landfills, quarries or ponds that, over time, accumulates to potentially millions of tons of coal ash that contains some of the world’s deadliest toxic metals: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and selenium. These contaminants can pollute, groundwater, drinking water and the air. All of these contaminants can be toxic and have the potential to injure all major organ systems, damage physical health and development, and endanger wildlife. As a result of the Dan River spill, about 300...
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...done about our dependency on oil and coal. We need to explore alternative fuels and really take a look at what we are doing to the environment. The United States Congress should reduce emissions from oil and coal by funding research and helping to advance the technology involved with alternative fuels. America is a country that is literally fueled by oil and coal. We currently consume 20 million barrels a day, at a cost of 1.4 billion dollars per day. Oil is consumed in many different ways, and quite a few that most people may never think of, like in the production of clothing, detergents, toothpaste, toothbrushes, paint, plastics, playgrounds and insulation. More importantly though, oil is used to fuel the majority of our transportation and also many of our power plants. These are the major contributing parties to our oil consumption and pollution. The emissions from our cars, planes, buses, ships, trucks and factories, is doing irreversible damage to our planet. Barack Obama said that, “As a result of climate change, glaciers are melting faster, the polar ice caps are shrinking, trees are blooming earlier, more people are dying in heat waves, species are migrating, and eventually many will become extinct.” We are also polluting the oceans at an alarming rate. Each year more than 6 million tons of oil finds its way into the world’s oceans. In comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill released 10.8 million gallons of oil. Coal is the world leader for carbon dioxide...
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...utilized. There is coal, which is a nonrenewable energy resource because there is a limited amount of supply. Then there is wind and hydropower, which are considered renewable energy resources; because there is an infinite amount of supply. The city council may want to take into consideration these two renewable energy sources for the many different advantages each source has to offer. West Virginia has an abundance of natural energy resources such as coal, wind, and hydropower; all of these energy resources could generate electricity and stabilize the community’s economy in various ways, including the different types of facilities, cost, and production output. West Virginia coalmines are amongst the top in the country for coal production. A 2009 study showed that five states in America produced close to three quarters of all the coal in the entire country, and West Virginia was number two on the list. Coal is used to generate electricity, heat, and for industrial uses. In the 2009 study, over ninety percent of the coal was used to generate electricity, a little over six percent was used in the industry, and less than one percent was used to generate heat (“Coal” 18). West Virginia mines a large portion of the countries coal every year and in order to keep up the high demand, most of the state workforce is employed by the coalmines. The West Virginia coalmines are the economic backbone for the state. There are a couple of key elements that make the coal mines so prosperous...
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...Clean Coal Daniel Robinson DeVry University Understanding what clean coal means can be confusing and the potential impact on the environment can be confusing. Hearing the words clean coal makes most of us think we have finally found a way to actually make coal a clean sustainable resource to generate our electricity. After reading “The Environmental Injustice of ‘‘Clean Coal’’: Expanding the National Conversation on Carbon Capture and Storage Technology to Include an Analysis of Potential Environmental Justice Impacts” I have come to agree with the article that coal will never be clean in a way that is feasible to anyone that has to live near these coal plants. First let’s define clean coal, clean coal as Liebert says is “The term ‘‘clean coal’’ is used to refer to burning coal in a way that reduces emissions or otherwise lessens coal’s environmental impact. ‘‘Clean coal’’ technology includes ‘‘washing’’ coal of minerals and other polluting components, gasification, and the treating of flue gases to lessen sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and mercury emissions. In the context of climate change, the term ‘‘clean coal’’ is used most frequently as shorthand for technology that burns coal more efficiently and or decreases its CO2 emissions. While some might read that and think that we could find a way to get coal without having any CO2 emissions which is not the case. While carbon capture and storage sounds like fantastic technology that has three stages of capture...
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...nuclear power as a means of providing for the world’s energy needs. Discuss the implications for Australia’s mining industry? Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter and has the second largest deposit of coal in the world. Although the world is currently in the throes of a global financial crisis, Australia’s economy one of the few in the developed world to stay afloat has been buoyed considerably by its exports industry, particularly that of coal. Despite Australia’s promise to reduce carbon emissions by 5% in accordance with its commitment to the Kyoto protocol, the coal industry has been lucky enough to avoid almost all penalties that other industries are set to receive under the proposed carbon emission trading scheme . This combined with Australia continuing to stall further international discussions on combating climate change has earned Australia the reputation of “A nation of climate sinners” . It is obvious that despite a lot of rhetoric on the importance of addressing climate change, the Australian government is not willing to commit to solving the global challenge of climate change to an appreciable degree while such a large part of the Australian economy is at stake. For the Australian government to fully commit to its promises on combating climate change, a way to free the Australian economy of its coal dependence needs to be found. The world is in a new era of energy production where it is no longer a question of which energy technology will prevail, but rather...
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...accident. When the two cars collide they release an energy that can be transferred from one to the other (Phun Physics). Define what we mean by fossil fuels and explain why they are an attractive source of energy. Fossil fuels are natural resources that can be converted into energy by a simple combustion process. The main types of fossil fuels used are coal, natural gas, and petroleum (Oracle). Some of the advantages of fossil fuels are that they are easily distributed, relatively inexpensive, are readily available, and can be converted through a simple combustion process (Oracle). Coal is a fossil fuel and is the altered remains of prehistoric vegetation that originally accumulated in swamps and peat bogs (Word Coal Association). The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. Through photosynthesis all living plants store solar energy. When they die the energy is usually released as the plants decay. When coal forms the decaying process is stopped, preventing the release of the solar energy, keeping it in the coal (World Coal Association). Coal formation...
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...Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies S. Pacala, et al. Science 305, 968 (2004); DOI: 10.1126/science.1100103 The following resources related to this article are available online at www.sciencemag.org (this information is current as of March 6, 2007 ): Updated information and services, including high-resolution figures, can be found in the online version of this article at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/305/5686/968 Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on March 6, 2007 Supporting Online Material can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/305/5686/968/DC1 This article has been cited by 56 article(s) on the ISI Web of Science. This article has been cited by 11 articles hosted by HighWire Press; see: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/305/5686/968#otherarticles This article appears in the following subject collections: Atmospheric Science http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/collection/atmos Information about obtaining reprints of this article or about obtaining permission to reproduce this article in whole or in part can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/about/permissions.dtl Science (print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published weekly, except the last week in December, by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. Copyright c 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science; all rights reserved...
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...Introduction This case study Luotang Power: Variances Explained is mainly concerned with a study of variances that will show the changes in performance in the company and the external environment that is not within the power plant’s control. The Luotang Power Company (Luotang) is a 600 Mega Watt (MW) coal fired power plant located in the Hubei Province, China. Luotang first started in 1997, when the Provincial Planning Commission, working on behald of the Hubei Provincial Government, had solicited bids from international power developers to finance, design, build, and poerate a 600MW coal-fired power plant. The project was contracted on a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) Basis, that meant that the power plant would be given to the Hubei Provincial Government after 20 years of operation at no cost. Luotang was mainly rural in nature but development quickly increased when the power plant opened. Luotang is wholly owned by an American independent power producer. Luotang’s parent company is known as China Hua Tong Power (HT Power). It’s primary customer is the Hubei Provincial Power Company (HPPC) and their main coal supplier was the Pindingshan Coal Company (Pindingshan). Tan Min Yi has been the general manager of the Luotang Power Company since 2002. In this case study, it talks about how Tan has to make a presentation to the Board of Directors of Luotang’s parent company, that is HT Power about the results received in the 2011 Report of Operations. He is concerned about what...
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...In today's fast paced society we as Americans rely on transportation and communication to support our personal needs, families and careers. For example, transportation, telecommunications, electricity, and manufacturing. Although these vehicles cannot be useful to society unless they're fueled and maintained by other resources such as crude oils, natural gas, coal, renewables, and uranium (nuclear). One area in particular I want to touch on is the creation of electricity. Therefore for the purpose of this paper I will discuss the advantages, and disadvantages of the resources required to produce electricity, their lifecycles, and economy and trade. Power generation is a viable source of producing electricity, and the fuel to support it. For example: Crude Oil - A small percentage of this resource is used in power generation as compared to other sources . Crude oil is pumped from underground reservoirs by drilling rigs, and refined . After the refining process its then transported by ships, pipelines, trucks, or trains for consumption or storage at chosen power plants. At the power plant the crude oil is used in different ways for fuel; such as burning the oils and using combined cycle technologies to produce steam which moves the turbines within the plant. Combined cycle technology is the most efficient way to burn oil at the power plant. The use of crude in power generation does not come free, and it must be purchased in the commodities market at the...
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...Energy Policy 31 (2003) 721–734 Electricity and externalities in South Africa Randall Spalding-Fechera,*, David Khorommbi Matibeb b a Energy and Development Research Centre, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa Gauteng Department of Agricultural Conservation and Environment, PO Box 8769, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa Abstract As the electricity supply sector in developing countries undergoes increasingly rapid restructuring, and technology and fuel choices widen, understanding the environmental implications of investment choices becomes ever more important. The objective of this paper is to expand previous analysis of the external costs of electric power generation in South Africa. We present a quantitative analysis of air pollution impacts on human health, damages from greenhouse gas emissions, and the avoided health costs from electrification, as well as discussing other impacts qualitatively. The central estimate of total external costs is R7.3 billion, or 4.4 cents per unit of coal-fired power generated. Relative to current electricity prices, the external costs are approximately 40 and 20 per cent of industrial and residential tariffs, respectively. We then discuss policy options for addressing these costs, including taxation, tradable permit systems, and integrated resource planning, as well as expanded regional energy trade and the possibility of accessing climate change-related funding for cleaner electricity production. r 2002 Elsevier...
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