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A 2004 study commissioned by environmental groups, but contested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, concluded that coal burning costs 24,000 lives a year in the United States. [30] More recently, an academic study estimated that the premature deaths from coal related air pollution was about 52,000 each year. [31]
Coal pollution mitigation is a series of systems and technologies that seek to mitigate health and environmental impact of burning coal for energy. Burning coal releases harmful substances that contribute to air pollution, acid rain , and greenhouse gas emissions.
Coal is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere. There are severe health effects caused by burning coal. [22] [23] [24] Worldwide 25 people die early for each terawatt hour of electricity generated by coal, around a thousand times more than nuclear or solar. [25]
Photomicrograph made with a scanning electron microscope and back-scatter detector: cross section of fly ash particles. Fly ash, flue ash, coal ash, or pulverised fuel ash (in the UK)—plurale tantum: coal combustion residuals (CCRs)—is a coal combustion product that is composed of the particulates that are driven out of coal-fired boilers together with the flue gases.
The impacts of air pollution can vary depending on the type and concentration of pollutant released. [20] In agroecosystems these changes may be manifest in reduced economic yield. [21] Adaptation and mitigation techniques to reduce air pollution created by mining are often focused on using cleaner energy sources. [22]
Coal burning power plants kill many thousands of people every year with their emissions of particulates, microscopic air pollutants that enter human lungs and other human organs and induce a variety of adverse medical conditions, including asthma, heart disease, low birth weight and cancers.
The International Energy Agency and others report that oil & gas use comprises over 55% (18 billion tons) of the recorded 32.8 billion tons (BT) of CO 2 released into the atmosphere from all energy sources in year 2017. [11] [12] Coal use comprised most of the remaining 45%.
However, by far the greatest energy fatalities as a result of energy generation by humanity are due to air pollution, primarily generated from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass. [4] Particulate matter (counting outdoor air pollution effects only) is estimated to cause 2.1 [5] [6] to 4.21 million deaths annually. [7] [8]