Coal is a very important resource today, if not the most important as it powers over 70% of our everyday electricity worldwide. Coal is used worldwide and powers almost everything like cars and household lights just to name a few. In this report, I will talk about what coal is, the process of mining coal, how it is turned into electricity, and the value and where main deposits of the world’s coal is. Coal is one of, if not the most valuable fossil fuel in our world today.
Coal is a combustible rock that is thought to be an organic sedimentary rock that forms through weathering and erosion of plant materials over thousands of years. For example, thousands of years ago, a plant may have been washed into a swamp or waterway. Over time the debris will sink to the bottom and be subject to water and pressure and erosion of the
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There are benefits and advantages as well as disadvantages with mining and extraction of coal. Worldwide speculation as well as scientific experiments have shown that coal – fired power plants produce pollution and that they do impact on the environment. The World Coal Association (WCA) suggests that the amount of CO2 emissions can be heavily reduced by capturing carbon waste and ensuring they are not released into air. Other emissions can also be reduced such as nitrous oxide, sulphur and dioxide, which would further add to cleaner coal-fired power stations. Coal is a cheap resource and currently it is abundant. However, it is not a sustainable energy source and one day it will all run out. Other sustainable and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are much more expensive than coal. Although solar and wind are long-term and best for a sustainable future, mining and electricity companies are still choosing to use coal. Coal is widely debated, and its future is still very much