Coal
in sentence
1278 examples of Coal in a sentence
During the infrastructure boom of the mid-to-late 2000s, public resources were captured under a “Rent Raj,” which put terrestrial rents (land and environmental permits), sub-terrestrial rents (coal), and even ethereal rents (spectrum) up for grabs.
With demand understandably peaking, other sources, such as
coal
and gas, had to fill the gap.
But most academic models show that the cheapest way to reduce CO2 by 20% in 2020 would be to switch from
coal
to cleaner natural gas.
Indeed, when compared to other energy sources, nuclear power ranks higher than oil, coal, and natural gas systems in terms of fatalities, second only to hydroelectric dams.
Our Summer of Climate TruthNEW YORK – For years, climate scientists have been warning the world that the heavy use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) threatens the world with human-induced climate change.
Yet politicians everywhere are timid, especially because oil and
coal
companies are so politically powerful.
After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the EU – rooted in the post-war European
Coal
and Steel Community – began with similar small steps toward integration.
About 80% of the world’s primary energy comes from carbon-based sources: coal, oil, and gas.
Just as coal, oil, and gas must be transported long distances, so wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower must be moved long distances through transmission lines and through synthetic liquid fuels made with wind and solar power.
For example, energy planners will move from
coal
to lower-carbon natural gas; but they will tend to underinvest in the much more decisive shift to renewable energy.
In some places, new supply contracts have set prices as low as $0.06 per kilowatt hour, making solar power fully competitive with
coal
and natural gas.
And, even in electricity generation, emerging economies’ INDCs imply significant new investments in
coal
or gas capacity.
Taken together, the INDCs suggest that
coal
could still account for 35% of global electricity generation in 2030.
And, because coal- and gas-fired power stations last 50 years or more, such investments raise the risk of either locking in emission levels incompatible with the climate target, or forcing major asset write-offs.
Similarly, failure to account for environmental externalities has contributed to the underpricing of natural resources like coal, fueling excessive resource consumption and creating a serious pollution problem.
These factors make a good argument for
coal
as a cheap alternative source of Africa's power.
The current level of proven
coal
reserves worldwide stands at roughly 850 billion tons.
Coal
is also much more widely distributed geographically than any other fossil fuel.
Coal
is the world’s fastest growing fossil fuel, with annual production increasing by 6.4% since 2004.
In 2006 alone, China added about 93,000 megawatts of coal- fired electricity generating capacity, and this trend is expected to continue as the country tries to meet its huge energy needs.
Even in many developed countries,
coal
still accounts for a large share of power generation.
Coal
plants currently provide more than half of America’s electricity supply.
Denmark, which houses some of the most efficient coal-fired power plants in the world, equally relies on
coal
for half of its electricity production.
The same is true for Germany, which is home to some of the most efficient pulverized
coal
combustion units in Europe.
Poland uses
coal
for 98% of its electricity production, and South Africa uses
coal
for about 50% of its electricity production.
Against this picture then, it is hard not to expect developing countries to exploit their abundant
coal
resources to generate power for their own development, especially given that modern technology can help produce
coal
cleanly.
Some argue that gas might be a better alternative to hydro or coal, but for countries that must import much of their gas the benefits of a stable and reliable source of cheap fuel in the form of
coal
present a very strong counter-argument to the capital costs of a gas plant.
Unlike prices for coal, which is abundant and dispersed geographically, gas prices are subject to significant volatility, and the long-term trend in the face of fossil fuel depletion is uncertain.
In contrast,
coal
prices are more stable, and may remain that way for a long time.
Apart from electric-power generation,
coal
also has wide application in a number of industries.
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