what alternative resources can be used instead of coal?

Question

why should we stop using coal as an alternative energy source?
any facts, statistics or information relating to this.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Carbon sequestration is probably the next big thing in fossil fuel use for power generation

http://www.ecn.nl/sf/research/climate/minco2seq/index.en.html
http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7019791

and there is much more information on the web.

Bearing in mind that there are hundreds of years reserves of coal and the possibility of using it in both more efficient and nearly carbon neutral ways I don't think that we will give up on it just yet.

Answer 2

Coal is composed of carbon right? As in when you burn it, you get a buttload of excess Carbon Dioxide that the environment can't recycle. If you can get some solar panels for your house, it could cut your electricity bill by a good amount. Also, they are in the process of building a fusion plant somewhere in Europe. Fusion produces vast amounts of energy with little waste. Hopefully someday every country in the world will have one.

Answer 3

We can use an alternative resource such as wood or even nuclear energy instead of coal because coal gives out carbondioxide and carbonmonoxide.

Answer 4

Coal plants give lot of polluting exhausts.There are other alternatives like the wind,solar,tidal,nuclear ones,these are non-conventional and non-polluting.For further info on this topic u can check web and books on non-conventional energy resources.For stats get books on latest surveys.

Answer 5

The only economically viable alternative to coal for power production is nuclear energy. Wind power is marginally viable; solar power is not yet there.

Answer 6

Because, while modern coal power plants are far cleaner burning than they used to be, the technology exists to build nuclear plants which don't polute at all, and produce almost no toxic waste.

Answer 7

We are using alternatives to coal, kerosene and nuclear.
Solar energy, wave energy and wind farms are the big ones I recall.

Answer 8

Watch previous westerns on t.v. and choose a number of the words they used. Festus and rfile on Gunsmoke and Hoss on Bonanza had what have been seen colourful vocabularies for the cases. My grandfather talked like they did and it became a giggle and lots much less offensive than the words we use today. The comical consequence of conversing like an previous timer could be a stable tension reliever besides.........

Answer 9

becuase it produce CO2 that destroys our ozone layer.
to created coal 1st we should burn forest, not the forest actully but the trees. these trees prevent soil erosion, if we burned down trees to make coals that cold result to soil erosion were ever that place have been burned down.

Answer 10

Why coal cannot be completely dispensed with and how it can be replaced have been shown below:
In favour of coal, the following stand as testimony.
10 reasons why coal is a good energy source:
1. Cheapest source of energy. It is by far cheaper than nuclear, natural gas, oil. Hydro usually will be slightly cheaper. However, problems with hydro include: no new facilities because of public outcry when river valleys are dammed; and, peak demand time problems (rivers running dry in the dead of summer when peak air conditioning is needed and rivers are frozen in the dead of winter when peak heating is needed).

2. Coal also provides a stable source of energy (no Arab oil embargoes, no sudden scarcity like you experience with natural gas) and there is a very plentiful supply both in the U.S. and in other foreign countries.

3. Coal is nothing more than ancient wood which has been under pressure for millions of years. It is not sinister as you may have been led to believe.

4. Coal provides many jobs. Unlike other forms of energy (nuclear, natural gas, oil, hydroelectric), coal provides many jobs in removing coal from the earth, transporting it to the utility, burning it, and properly disposing of coal ash.

5. Coal is American made. We do not have to import this product into this country.

6. Coal can be mined and burned with little environmental impact. There has been tremendous strides in environmental responsibility with mining coal and burning coal. However, there still is pressure of global warming. If we burn less fossil fuels, what, as a practical matter, is our energy alternative? Nuclear? Hydro? Solar (there is no practical way to provide the massive amounts of electricity needed to run our country through solar energy---it is viewed as impractical at this time)?

7. Coal mining reclamation can give the surface landowner many more options for developing his land. In the mountainous terrain, a mining process call mountaintop removal can create very valuable and useable level land for the surface owner. The surface owner not only gets his land developed, he usually is paid 50 cents a ton for the inconvenience of the use of his surface. Surface mining cannot occur without the specific consent of the surface owner. If the surface owner is lucky enough to own the coal rights, he's looking at another $2.00 a ton for royalty payments. In 1977 the federal Surface Mining Law was passed that required coal
operators to reclaim the land in an equal, if not better, condition that existed prior to mining. We're doing an excellent job with our reclamation efforts. I would suggest that you go to http://www.osmre.gov/. This is the web site of the federal agency that oversees coal mining from an environmental standpoint.

8. The prudent us of coal will allow the U. S. the time needed to develop viable alternative energy sources---primarily solar technology and fuel from grain---without any negative impact on our national economy.

9. Coal provides 56% of the electricity used in the nation each day. It provides 95% of Kentucky's electricity. Electrical rates in Kentucky are the second lowest in the nation---because of coal.

10. Coal is good for Kentucky's economy. The Kentucky coal industry brought $3.1 billion into Kentucky from out-of-state during Fiscal Year 1996-97 through coal sales to customers in 29 other states and 15 foreign countries. In Kentucky, it paid over $800 million in direct wages, directly employing over 19,000 persons and indirectly providing an additional 60,000 jobs. In addition to all the normal business taxes, the coal industry in Kentucky paid an additional $160 million in severance taxes to the state.
Points against coal as energy source:
Writing in the August 24 issue of the journal Science, Associate Professor Mark Z. Jacobson and Teaching Professor Gilbert M. Masters conclude that wind power is an abundant, clean and affordable alternative to coal and other fossil fuels.

The authors point to the indirect costs of coal-generated power plants, including the production of smog that causes asthma and other respiratory illnesses; carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming; and acid rain that destroys lakes and forests.

Jacobson and Masters also cite statistics from the Centers for Disease Control showing that coal dust kills some 2,000 U.S. mineworkers annually and has cost taxpayers approximately $35 billion in monetary and medical benefits to former miners since 1973.
A typical 1,500-kilowatt turbine costs about $1.5 million to install and roughly $18,000 to $30,000 a year to maintain – a bargain in the long haul, according to Jacobson and Masters. "The U.S. could displace 10 percent of coal energy at no net federal cost by spending three to four percent of one year's budget on 36,000 to 40,000 large wind turbines and selling the electricity over 20 years, recouping all costs," they argue.
VR