Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock composed mostly of carbon and hydrocarbons. It is the world's most abundant fossil fuel. Coal powered the initial stages of the Industrial Revolution, and now is used to generate much of the world's electricity. It also is essential in steel-making, and is used to manufacture a wide range of important chemicals. From extraction to combustion, coal presents significant environmental and human health challenges, such as mine cave-ins and explosions, acid deposition, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Coal:
Coal was the fuel of the Industrial Revolution, and now accounts for about 25 percent of golobal energy use. Places as diverse as Shanxi Province, China...
Significant environmental risks are present at every stage of the coal energy system. Coal mining disturbs large areas of the Earth's surface, and thereby alters habitat...
Articles: Coal
Kingston fossil plant coal ash impoundment spill
On December 22, 2008 an earthen retaining wall of a coal ash pond breached at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee, releasing more than 5.4...
