Strategies to reduce emissions from coal supply

Coal operations are a major source of methane emissions. There are many low-hanging opportunities available to cut down on these, but in general wholesale reductions are more challenging than is the case for oil and gas operations. One of the most effective ways to cut down on coal mine methane is likely to be to cut coal consumption itself.

Coal Mining: How Is Coal Mined?

Coal mining (also called colliery) is the process of extracting coal from the ground's surface or from deep underground. Coal miners literally raze entire mountain ranges to feed our insurmountable desire for cheap energy. There's something brutally simple about coal mining. Take away the monstrous-but-sophisticated machinery and …

The future of coal in a carbon-constrained climate

Coal-fired power plants in the pipeline (planned, announced or under construction) as well as changes relative to 2015 (ref. 19).Percentage changes denote changes in the total pipeline between ...

Impact of Coal Mining on Environment

Coal mining adversely affects the eco-system as a whole. On the unstable earth, the un-resting mankind constantly uses a variety of resources for daily lives. Coal is recognized to have been the ...

South Africa's Miners Addressing Climate Change Challenges …

Coal and PGM mining also account for the largest share of jobs. Thermal coal will continue to be required in the near term, but pressure to phase out coal will increase globally in the next 10 to 15 years. ... The more diverse their options for rebalancing their portfolios and minimizing negative exposure the better. Some industry …

10 Major Disadvantages of Coal

Once coal has been mined and burnt, there is even more bad news. Burning coal generates huge quantities of toxic waste called coal ash. Coal plants across the US generate more than 100 million tonsof toxic waste every year. This waste needs to go somewhere, so is stored in pits …

Evaluating Impacts of Coal Mining in South African environment…

This study, therefore, evaluates the impacts of coal mining in South Africa relative to achieving society 4.0 in the country. Mpumalanga province was used as a case study as mining activities are ...

Environmental impact and health risk assessment due to coal mining …

Coal mining and usage significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, leading to global climate change and adverse health effects on both nearby communities and the wider population. ... The paper may propose measures to mitigate the negative effects of coal mining on groundwater and surface ecosystems, …

Does coal mining benefit local communities in the long run?

However, when including the costs of negative externalities, we find that the net present value of coal mining becomes negative (-$538 to -$690 billion on average), while grazing ($2.84 to $2.85 billion) and nature conservation ($16.35 to $79.29 million) remain positive. Therefore, this study contributes to the much-needed literature that can ...

Coal explained Coal and the environment

Effects of coal mining. Surface mines (sometimes called strip mines) were the source of about 63% of the coal mined in the United States in 2022. These mining …

Climate change: Why Australia refuses to give up coal

Coal exports totalled A$55bn (£29bn; $40bn) last year, but most of this wealth was kept by mining companies. Less than a tenth went to Australia directly - that's about 1% of national revenue.

Coal mining | Definition, History, Types, & Facts | Britannica

Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on Earth. Its predominant use has always been for producing heat energy. It was the basic energy source that fueled the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the industrial growth of that era in turn supported the large-scale exploitation of coal deposits. Since the mid-20th century, coal has yielded …

Impacts of Coal Use on Health

This article reviews evidence for the public health impacts of coal across the extraction, processing, use, and waste disposal continuum. Surface coal mining and processing …

Strategies to reduce emissions from coal supply

Just over 40 Mt of CMM were released to the atmosphere in 2022, representing more than 10% of total methane emissions from human activity. Steam coal and lignite accounted …

Impact of coal mining on stream biodiversity in the US and …

Coal mining is a major cause of land-use change in the US, and according to the Energy Information Administration it is expected to remain a key part of the national electricity portfolio until at ...

Impacts of Coal Use on Health

This article reviews evidence for the public health impacts of coal across the extraction, processing, use, and waste disposal continuum. Surface coal mining and processing impose public health risks on residential communities through air and water pollution. Burning coal in power plants emits more nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate …

Coal-affected but also coal-dependent: Mpumalanga, the coal-mining

The South African government seems committed to coal mining, so that is an obstacle, and a lot of South Africans see coal burning as normal. There is a propensity to think of it as important. People in the community in Highveld, for instance, are coal-affected but also coal-dependent. Coal mine workers are relatively privileged workers.

Social and economic costs and benefits of coal

The actual cost of negative externalities can differ from the imputed by De Valck et al. (2021) who noted that reduction of weighting of negative externalities by 8.5% would result in the zero net benefits for the coal mining scenario. Mining companies can examine negative externalities closely and reduce them at the proposal level before ...

Two ways to help stop coal from devastating our communities …

It's difficult to overstate the devastating impact that coal has on our world. Our reliance on coal for electricity has driven our climate system close to a catastrophic tipping point and has begun changing the very chemical makeup of our oceans. Thousands of miners across the globe face sickening and dangerous work conditions, and in

How Coal Kills

Coal mining leads U.S. industries in fatal injuries, and miners have suffered prolonged health issues, such as black lung disease, which causes permanent scarring …

The Economic and Environmental Effects of Coal Mining: …

Globally, mining and combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal, have resulted in various environmental problems. The adverse effects of these industries on human health, agriculture and the ...

Understanding the impacts of mining on ecosystem services …

Understanding the effects of mining on ES requires identifying and conceptualising the full ES chain including four key components – supply, demand, flow and benefits (Figure 1) (Mandle et al., 2020; Villareal-Rosas et al., 2020).Extracting mineral resources results in removal or modification of areas of natural ecosystems (Castello …

How Coal Kills

Dear EarthTalk: I saw a chart that quantified the negative impacts on our health of our reliance on coal as an energy source. It was pretty shocking as I recall. ... Coal mining leads U.S ...

Coal, climate and change: The narrative drivers of Australia's coal …

1. Introduction. The extraction and burning of fossil fuels is one of the key contributors to the greenhouse emissions that warm the climate. Coal – the focus of this paper – is the largest global source of electricity generation today and a key emitter in the electricity sector [1].Addressing climate change will require that the coal sector …

Impact of coal mining on stream biodiversity in the US and …

Coal mining is a major cause of land-use change in the US, and according to the Energy Information Administration it is expected to remain a key part of the …

Negative Effects of Coal Mining

The negative effects of coal mining cannot be disputed: Destruction of Landscapes and Habitats: Strip mining also known as surface mining, involves the stripping away of …

The economic and social benefit of coal mining: the case …

He showed that coal mining activity stimulated population growth for two decades but had negative effects on population growth after three decades. While coal mining activity had a small and positive short-run impact on manufacturing industry, per capita employment in manufacturing decreased in both the short run and the long run.

Environmental degradation in India's oldest coal mining …

Decades of unabated coal mining can irreversibly change the character of an area and that is the story of Raniganj Coalfields, India's oldest coalfield area spread over West Bengal and parts of Jharkhand. Although mining started in this area in 1774, environmental degradation worsened when open-cast mines made their appearance 30 …

External costs of coal

In economics, an external cost, or externality, is a negative effect of an economic activity on a third party.[1] When coal is mined and used to generate power, external costs include the impacts of water pollution, toxic coal waste, air pollution, and the long-term damage to ecosystems and human health.[2]

The Environmental Impact of Australia's Mining Industry: A

Adani's Carmichael coal mine has been a subject of controversy for years. The mine's potential environmental impact includes the release of significant amounts of greenhouse gases, damage to water resources, and the potential to negatively affect the Great Barrier Reef. ... These practices aim to minimize the negative effects of mining ...

Finding Solutions for South Africa's Coal-Fired Energy and …

This post originally appeared on The Guardian's Water hub.. Coal production, from mining to power generation, requires vast volumes of water.Furthermore, pollution from coal mining can irreparably harm water resources.. In South Africa—one of the world's most water-stressed countries and one of the largest producers and consumers …

Killer Coal: Just how bad are the health effects of coal?

In India, coal kills about 169,000 people annually. In the United States, 50,000 coal-related deaths are recorded each year, with air pollution from coal-fired power stations contributing to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the US (heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic respiratory diseases).

Coal mining, social injustice and health: A universal conflict …

Highlights Coal mining and combustion are associated with social injustices in local communities. These include environmental harms and health impacts on both minor and major scales. Mining industry and authorities' agenda undermines communities' institutional power. The tension between place and health vs wealth generated by …

Coal mining and environmental sustainability in South …

This study investigates the effects of coal mining on environmental sustainability in South Africa in relation to the moderating role of institutions. To achieve the study's objectives, the fully modified least square (FMOLS), dynamic least squares (DOLS), canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), Bayer-Hanck cointegration and Toda …

How ending mining would change the world

Coal is heavy and bulky, so it moves around the world in short supply chains – often going straight from mine to power plant. "Because it takes up so much space, power stations don't have much ...

Renewable energy production will exacerbate mining threats …

Note other mining areas included coal mines, some of which produce metallurgic coal used in steel production, which in 2018 represented 12% of world coal production 43, and thus may also be ...

10 Environmental Impacts of Coal, It's Mining and Power Plant

Impacts of Coal Mining 3. Water Pollution . Water pollution from coal includes the negative health and environmental effects of the mining, processing, burning, and waste storage of coal. In the process of mining coal, coal sludge is given off. Coal sludge, also known as slurry, is the liquid coal waste generated by washing coal.

Mining and biodiversity: key issues and research needs in …

2. The many ways mining activities impact biodiversity. Mining affects biodiversity at multiple spatial scales (site, landscape, regional and global) through direct (i.e. mineral extraction) and indirect processes (via industries supporting mining operations, and external stakeholders who gain access to biodiversity-rich areas as the result of …

Environmental impacts of coal

Environmental Impacts. Acid mine drainage (AMD) refers to the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines, often abandoned mines where ore- or coal mining activities have exposed rocks containing the sulphur-bearing mineral pyrite. Pyrite reacts with air and water to form sulphuric acid and dissolved iron, and as water washes through mines, …

12 Environmental Effects of Coal Mining

Here are some of the negative effects of coal mining and the burning of coal: Deforestation is required to clear areas of land and mountains to prepare them for …