Feature Reports
Summary Coal, Still a Growing Energy Resource
After stoking the Industrial Revolution, coal is still the primary source of fuel for power generation today. Coal is a low-cost resource with substantial reserves across the globe. But it is also a major source of carbon emissions and a threat to the climate and planet.
Like oil and natural gas, coalCoal is ranked by its degree of transformation or maturity, increasing in carbon content from... is a fossil fuelFuel is any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or material that can be combined with an oxidant... . It started forming over 350 million years ago, through the transformation of organic plant matter.
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CoalCoal is ranked by its degree of transformation or maturity, increasing in carbon content from... was the fuelFuel is any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or material that can be combined with an oxidant... that stoked the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Extracting coal from underground or open-pit mines continues to be a vital part of the world economy today.
CoalCoal is ranked by its degree of transformation or maturity, increasing in carbon content from... is used for many applications, from producing heatIn the field of statistical thermodynamics today, heat refers to the transfer of the thermal agitation of the particles making up matter... for households to firing industrial boilers and generators to manufacturing cast iron and synthetic fuelFuel is any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or material that can be combined with an oxidant... . Depending on its quality, coal can be burnt, transformed into cokeCoke is a coal derivative obtained through pyrolysis. It consists of almost pure carbon... or gasified.
Although coalCoal is ranked by its degree of transformation or maturity, increasing in carbon content from... is no longer mined in France, it is produced on a large scale in many parts of the world. Cheap and easy to extract, abundant and widely distributed, it plays a prominent role in the energy mixThe range of energy sources of a region. . The major drawback of coal, however, is that it produces large amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby contributing to global warmingGlobal warming, also called planetary warming or climate change... .
