Coal – Is it still being used?
Of course! Coal usage is greater than ever before. Surprised? Read on.
Coal is as important to your life as it was to your grandparents, or your great-grandparents' lives at the turn of the century. For them, coal was an obvious necessity, since it powered railroads and boats that carried American commerce to market. It also fueled factories and heated homes.
Coal is working as hard for America today as it did a century ago. Do you know that a family of four uses 3,375 pounds of coal in one year just to heat their electric water heater? Or that their range would require 560 pounds of coal and their TV would require 256 pounds in one year? Pretty amazing, isn't it? That's because more than 50% of the electricity used by American households is generated by burning coal. As a matter of fact, we use far more coal today than at any other time in our nation's history!
Coal History in America
The North American Indians were already using coal long before the first settlers arrived in the New World. The Hopi tribe, who lived in what is now Arizona, used coal to fire the pottery they made from clay. European settlers discovered coal in eastern North America during the first half of the 1600's. By the end of the 1750's, small mines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia supplied coal to blacksmiths and ironmakers.
During the second half of the 1800's, coal use continued to increase. Coal was used during the Civil War to manufacture products and make weapons. In the 1880's, coal-fired steam generators began to produce electricity. Coal use continued to rise until the 1930's when the Great Depression began and demand fell. Coal use fell again after Word War II when plentiful supplies of oil and gas were discovered. Homes that had used coal for heat now used oil and natural gas. Trains switched to diesel fuel.
More recently, the oil embargo of 1973 made a significant impact on coal use. A national effort was made to reduce the amount of foreign oil Americans used and to depend more on energy sources that could be found in the United States. America once again turned to coal. In 1974, we mined approximately 600 million tons of coal and today we mine about one billion tons!
Types of Coal
Coal is a very unique and diverse substance which can vary widely in characteristics. Generally, coal is classified into four major categories:
- Lignite (softest coal) – A brownish-black coal with generally high moisture and ash content, and the lowest carbon content and heating value. It is primarily used by electricity generating plants.
- Subbituminous (medium-soft coal) – A dull black coal with a higher heating value than lignite. It is also used to produce electricity at generating plants.
- Bituminous – A medium-hard, intermediate grade of coal that is the most common and widely used in the United States to generate electricity and to make coke used in the steel industry. It contains very little moisture and has high heat value.
- Anthracite – The hardest type of coal, consisting of nearly pure carbon. Anthracite has the highest heating value and lowest moisture and ash content. It burns slowly and makes a good heating fuel.
What is Coal Being Used For Today?
- For Electric Power – Generating plants burn coal to make steam. The steam turns turbines which generate electricity, which in turn powers lightbulbs, air conditioners, appliances, computers and even life-saving equipment in hospitals.
- For Industry – A variety of industries use coal's heat and by-products. Separated ingredients of coal (such as methanol and ethylene) are used in making plastics, tar, synthetic fibers, fertilizers and medicines. The concrete and paper industries also burn large amounts of coal.
- For Making Steel – Coal is baked in hot furnaces to make coke, which is used to smelt iron ore into the iron needed for making steel. It's the carbon in coal that gives steel the strength and versatility for products such as bridges, automobiles and buildings.
- For Export – The United States is one of the top exporters of coal in the world. Most coal goes to Western Europe, Canada and Japan.
Why Use Coal?
One reason is that we have a great supply of coal. America has the second largest coal reserves in the world. If we used all the recoverable coal we have at the same rate at which we are using it today, there would be enough coal to last almost 300 years. We have much more coal than oil or natural gas.
Another reason we use coal is that we can afford it. Coal is usually less expensive than other fuels. It is also less expensive than nuclear energy, which requires power plants that have become increasingly expensive and difficult to build. Locating coal reserves is also easier and less expensive than locating oil or natural gas.
How Does Coal Mining Affect Our Environment?
In the early 1900's coal had developed a bad image because of the soot, dirt and pollution it created. But today, even though coal use has nearly doubled in the last 20 years, its SO2 emissions are at their lowest levels since the 1930's. The reason is that new technology has resulted in steady declines in emissions from coal combustion. In addition, there is greater use of low sulfur coals.
Great care is also being taken by coal companies to restore the land which is temporarily disturbed during mining. Though coal mining alters the landscape, federal and state laws require all mined land to be restored to its original condition. Mining companies plan the reclamation process before they even start digging. In many cases the land is left in better condition than before mining started.
Information for this article was taken from "What Everyone Should Know About Coal" - American Coal Foundation and "Power From Coal" - American Coal Foundation.