Coal Energy

[energy unleash]

Nearly 63 percent of the India’s total energy requirements are met from coal. The available coal reserves in India are sufficient to meet our needs for at least another 100 years. India now ranks 3rd amongst the coal producing countries in the world.
[url]http://www.eai.in/ref/fe/coa/coa.html[/url]

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[parker]

oal is a fossil fuel formed from the remains of plants, which existed millions of years ago. This was a time when a lot of the parts of earth were covered with colossal swampy forests. Coal is known to be a nonrenewable energy source. This is a nonrenewable energy resource because it takes millions of years to form.

Coal is used to harness energy and this energy comes from plants. Millions of years ago, these living plants had stored energy from the sun. After the plants die, a form of energy is released as the plants decay. But this is a process, which doesn't take place smoothly all the time. In certain conditions, the decay might be interrupted. This results in preventing the release of the stored solar energy.

It takes about a million years for a dead plant to turn into coal. These plants die and end up in the bottom of swamps, decaying for many years and forming a thick layer. Over time, the surface and the climate of the earth changed, as more water and dirt washed in. This halted the decay process. This process created more layers. The weight of the top layers packed down the lower layers of plant matter. Then, the heat and pressure caused chemical and physical changes. This resulted in, pushing out oxygen and leaving hydrocarbon-enriched deposits. In the end, the process gradually changed the plants into coal.

[DR Johansen]

There is a difference between "converting plant matter over millions of years" and "converting plant matter that was laid down millions of years ago". For all we know, the coal was made in 1 year and has sat around for millions more.

I bring this up because there is a way to make coal in hours. It is known as HydroThermal Carbonization. Put algae into a high pressure cooker with lemon juice and cook at 200 °C for a couple hours. Voila, coal.

[amykwright1]

Coal is incredible important. It actually provides around 28% of our energy last I checked. I'm suprised India uses such a large amount more.