the importance of coal

Even though most of the world deem electricity and clean cooking facilities as elementary accessories which everyone possesses, in many parts of the developing world most of the population is still lacking those two basic accessories. These countries are heavily dependent on coal, and there is a tremendous importance of improving the technology by which they extract and use coal. Coal is the largest source of electricity generation worldwide. It is also used in the steel and cement industry. The coal industry in developing countries will have a vital role in the next decades; with economic and social repercussions resulting from the approach governments take towards it.

Coal started to form about 300 million years ago. It is the transformed remains of vegetation which prehistorically occurred in swamps and bogs. Tectonic movements buried these bogs and swamps, usually to great depths. When they were buried, they were exposed to great temperatures and pressures. This was the catalyst for the transformation from the plant-like structure to coal. The first coal age, is known as the Carboniferous Period. (The Coal Resource 2)

Worldwide, there are over 984 billion tons of known reserves of coal. This would be enough to last us about 190 years, even if no new reserves are discovered. The biggest reserves are located in the USA, Russia, China and India. (The Coal Resource 3). Usually, the reserves are discovered undertaking exploration techniques. Frequently, the explorers create a geological map of the area which is suspected to hold reserves of coal, followed by geophysical and/or geochemical surveys. In the end, exploration drilling is performed in order to draw a precise picture of the area which is subject to development. However, ...

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...ping world works on abolishing poverty, and economic growth occurs, the demand for energy consumption will grow proportionally. It is estimated that developing countries “will increase their share of world energy consumption to about 40% by 2010 and to 45% by 2020.” (Priddle 8)

“Electricity is one of the most effective and environmentally responsible means of delivering energy to end consumers.” (Priddle 8) In developing countries, the choice of picking an option of delivering electricity is mostly based on the cost and complexity of that option. Since most of the countries are heavily reliant on agriculture, this presents a barrier to the large crop plantations of energy that would be required in order to build and fuel biomass energy systems

Nuclear power is out of the questions because of the low technological capacity, and the matters of international security.