How Coal is Used
Knowing how coal is used helps in understanding its importance to reducing oil imports and the United States dependency on foreign countries for fuel. Since it is a non-renewable resource that impacts on the environment, wisdom must be used when it comes to coal use. Coal can be important to freeing up the huge amounts of money that is spent on keeping the oil interests security in other countries. Once this money is no longer tied up in foreign countries, it can be used in the U.S. to reduce and eliminate environmental risks of coal use. The money can also be used to develop diversity in fuel options.
Coal has many uses that include the following:
- Electrical power
- Industrial use
- Making steel
- Export
Nearly all the coal mined is used to produce electrical power. At this time there is no other developed option that can completely replace coal at a source of electrical power. Coal is used to produce nearly half of the electricity used in the United States. Electric utility companies are not the only ones using coal to produce electricity. Some industries and businesses have their own power plants to produce their own electricity. The steam that is produced turns the turbines that generate electricity at a power plant.
The heat and the by-products of coal are used in different industries. Individual ingredients of coal, like methanol and ethylene, are used in making plastics, tar, synthetic fibers, fertilizers, and medicines. A large amount of coal is burned by the concrete and paper industries.
Coke (made when coal is baked in hot furnaces) is used to smelt iron ore into iron to make steel. It is the very high temperatures created during the use of coke that gives steel the strength and flexibility for products such as bridges, buildings, and automobiles.
Most of the coal that is exported is used for making steel. About four percent of coal that is mined is used for export. The countries that most coal trade is done with are Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Italy.
There is no debate on the importance of coal to the United States. It is important because coal is produced on American soil, provides jobs for Americans, is inexpensive, and abundant. There is some question as to the impact coal use has on the environment. Unregulated and undeveloped clean coal technology can make coal mining and coal burning harmful to the environment. This fact is not ignored by the mining industries and there have been steps taken to reduce the impact and in some cases eliminate it. To stop coal use would drastically increase dependency on foreign countries, so the risks must be managed, to avoid that.
There can be balance between the many benefits of coal use and the environmental impact that coal use has. Coal is still abundant and inexpensive. With proper management it will continue to be a fuel option for many generations. Further developments in technologies that create a cleaner burning coal and ways to restore the environment after an area has been mined are going to be needed. The present options just aren’t enough.
Currently the following technologies and regulations are used to make coal mining and coal use safer for the environment:
- Restoring the land damaged by surface mining
- Prevention of damage to ground and surface waters
- The Clean Air regulations protect the air
- Clean Water Act regulations protects the water
- Sulfur
- Cooperation to develop “clean coal technologies”
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations protect the environment
Even with the increased costs of making coal mining and coal use safer for the environment, coal is a viable and affordable option that provides many benefits to the economy. Coal use is essential to diversity in fuel options.
Since coal is so essential to the U.S. supply of electrical power, it is expected that the clean coal technology will improve and it will probably happen quickly. It will not only be available for current power plants but also so that new power plants can be built that are more efficient in environmental safety. It is an exciting time for the coal and mining industry. In addition the use of coal can provide the boost to the economy that is so desperately needed.
