Fossil fuels have long dominated the international electricity sector. Coal, crude oil, and natural gas brought rapid growth to various industries; they’ve built and continued to carry today’s economy. For this exact reason, it has become increasingly difficult to truly shift to a renewable-based electricity and energy sector: the world relies on fossil fuels for far more than energy production. But this continued reliance has put the environment in obvious peril. Coal is the primary source for global electricity generation, accounting for nearly 37 percent and generating 20 percent in the United States, in 2019. But in the US, while coal might not be the leading electricity source (and the US dependence is slowly declining), it is the leading source of carbon emissions, accounting for nearly 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Coal might be a strong contributor to economic growth, but renewables have the ability to continue that trajectory without contributing to negative environmental change, but unless the demand for coal continues to decrease at a more rapid pace, the environmental damages are only going to increase. The decrease in demand is possible, looking at the graph below, it is easy to see that renewables are contributing to electricity generation more each year, the trend is increasingly positive, but the question is, is it moving quickly enough? Hydro, wind, and solar power have the ability to be the dominant force in electricity generation. Though fossil fuels cannot be removed from energy generation completely in the short run, lowering demand for one sector can begin the process. As technology advances, renewable energy sources in the electricity sector are becoming cheaper and more available, paving the way for dangerous fossil fuels, like coal, to be slowly phased out. 

Coal has consistently been used for electricity generation in the United States since the late 1880s. The industry began to boost economic growth and development, and by 1961, coal had hit its peak of being the predominant source of electricity generation. Today coal supplies about 20 percent of the total electricity generation in the United States, a stark contrast to the mid-20th century, after which natural gas began to take over the majority of generation. Currently, natural gas generates around 40 percent of total electricity consumption. The US has the largest coal supply reserve in the world, one-fourth of all known coal in the world is in this country, which stands to reason why the US is such a powerhouse within coal production, and subsequently greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions. Bringing the issue a bit closer to home: Pennsylvania has a strong history of coal production; the coal mines played a key role in the Industrial Revolution within the United States and have continued to extract and produce coal that is used across the country. Anthracite, a carbon-rich “hard” coal, has its most abundant reserves in Pennsylvania. It is the deepest and most mature of the three other coal ranks: lignite, sub-bituminous and bituminous. It’s not a secret that coal has its slight advantages over other sources: “In terms of supply, coal has a clear advantage over the other common source of electricity, natural gas. The United States has nearly 300 billion tons of recoverable coal. That is enough to last more than 250 years if we continue to use coal at the same rate as we use it today. In addition, coal is a versatile fuel. It can be used as a solid fuel or it can be converted to a gas to replace expensive imported fuels”(1). Additionally, burning coal produces a large amount of energy and is much cheaper to produce, particularly compared to natural gas. Inexpensive electricity means lower costs for businesses and ultimately homeowners, which will then increase competitiveness in the marketplace (1), and the economic boosts mentioned above. But the money aspect should not be the sole argument for continuing with the use of coal, it is a dangerous material and if the current emissions continue, the detrimental effects on the atmosphere will become irreversible.             

The coal-burning process is extensive and each step, from the mine extraction to power plant combustion, produces varying levels of toxic waste. Coal mining can be broken down into two main types: surface and underground. With surface mining, the soil and rock covering (also known as overburden) are removed to access the minerals underneath. Reclamation procedures are now required to return the land back to its original state. Underground mining is a considerably more dangerous process, methane and carbon, which can be released from coal seams are highly flammable and pose considerable risk to the mine’s structure. Most coal extraction today is mined by machines running from the surface down into the mineshaft, reducing a miner’s risk, but still harmful to the environment. The coal might be extracted from varying degrees of elevation, but eventually, it all ends up in the same place: power plants.      

The United States is the second-largest polluter of carbon dioxide emissions in the world, only behind China and while coal production and the United States’ dependence on the energy source is declining (and has declined 42 percent since 2011), the emissions are still being continually pumped into the atmosphere at record paces. 

It is difficult for countries like China and India, whose economies have strong bases in factory production to completely cut off their use of coal for electricity. In 2019, coal contributed nearly 60 percent of China’s total electricity generation (2). And the previous year, 74 percent of India’s electricity came from coal (3).   

Coal production harms the environment far more than just emitting greenhouse gases. acid mine drainage and acid deposition can have extremely negative impacts.    

I didn’t have enough time to finish the brief, but my plan for the rest of it is to explain the different types of greenhouse gases released by coal plants and then explain the advantages of renewables and their biggest benefits (and obviously add infographics and citations). 

questions:

is this turning into too much of a research paper where I’m just explaining things?