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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.
The effect of fly ash on the environment can vary based on the thermal power plant where it is produced, as well as the proportion of fly ash to bottom ash in the waste product. [70] This is due to the different chemical make-up of the coal based on the geology of the area the coal is found and the burning process of the coal in the power plant.
Since a large share of air pollution is caused by combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, the reduction of these fuels can reduce air pollution drastically. Most effective is the switch to clean power sources such as wind power , solar power , hydro power which do not cause air pollution. [ 208 ]
For use in thermal power plants, coal is ground into dust using a device called a powdered coal mill. [1] The resulting product, called powdered coal or pulverized coal, is then generally used in a fossil fuel power plant for electricity generation. Pulverized coal is a significant dust explosion hazard, as large quantities are suspended in air ...
The environmental factors of the coal industry are not only impacting air pollution, water management and land use but also is causing severe health effects by the burning of the coal. Air pollution is increasing in numbers of toxins such as mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other heavy metals. [93]
Thus chemical energy stored in coal is converted successively into thermal energy, mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy. Coal-fired power stations are the largest single contributor to climate change, [8] releasing approximately 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, [2] about one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. [9]
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]