1. Introduction to Coal Coal is a fossil fuel that is created from the plants that have died. Coal is a non renewable energy source because it takes millions of years to form. The energy that we are able to extract from coal comes from the energy stored in plants that lives millions of years ago. Coal was formed by plants that lived up to 400 million years ago. For these millions of years, layers of dead plants have been covered by dirt and water trapping the energy of the dead plants. The heat and pressure the top layers put of the dead plants caused it to turn into what we call today “coal”. Coal Mining There are two ways coal can be gathered from the ground, surface mining and underground mining. Surface mining is used when the coal is relatively close to the surface. In surface mining large machines are used to dig through the top layer of soil which is usually less than 200 feet. About 2/3 of the coal in the U.S. is mined from this method. Transporting Coal There are many ways to transport coal. After coal is mined, is it ready to be shipped. If the mine is close to a destination, trucks can bring the coal straight to the power plant. A lot of the time coal is transported by railroad, but it this is a very expensive method. Sometimes the cost of shipping coal by train is more than the mining costs. Shipping is also another way it can be moved. To reduce transportation costs, power plants are often built close to the coal mines. Another way coal is often transported is through a slurry pipeline. A slurry pipeline is something that connects the coal mine straight to the power plant. In this method coal is ground up, mixed with water, and sent through pipes. Conclusions and Possibilities Overall the use of coal is very important in the United States today. Coal is a big part of the production of electricity today. It is used to produce 50 percent of the countries electricity. Although coal is important today we will not have a never ending supply of it. This limits the possibilities that we have for the future with coal. Also there are many other sources of energy that are being used today that are better for the environment. By: Eric Arsenault and Matt Tierney Annotated Bibliography "Coal News and Market." Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.. This site gave us our information of the cost of coal. "EIA Energy Kids - Coal." Web. 30 Mar. 2010.. This website was a good source because it had a lot of useful information about the two different types of mining. We learned about surface and underground mining. "How Coal Is Formed." Kentucky Educational Television: Education, Public Affairs, Arts and Culture, Online Video. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.. This website was a great source for learning about how coal is actually formed. It was easy to read and understand also. "TYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" The Future of Coal: Disadvantages and Advantages of Coal." Plan. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.. This website was fillied with good information on the benefits and disadnatages of useing coal for energy. This is a picture that shows the process of coal being formed. It emphasizes the transition from a plant and clearly shows how the dead plant is formed into coal. Coal Burning Power Plants Before the coal is burned, it is pulverized to powder. Then it is mixed with hot air and put into the fire of the boiler or furnace. Then purified water is pumped through pipes inside the boiler and turned into steam. temperatures can rise up to 1000 degrees, then the steam is piped into a turbine. The pressure from the steam powers the turbine blades which are connected to the generator, which produce electricity. Then the steam is brought to a condenser and it is turned into water again. Then the cycle repeats itself. Remember: no period after journal name (unless you use abbreviation). Abutting these last sections can save you a little space, and subtly indicates to viewers that the contents are not as important to read. Coal Used For Energy Underground mining is a much more expensive method and is used to mine coal that is very deep into the earth’s surface. In this method workers and machinery go down elevators and mine shafts that are dug deep into the earth to mine the coal. Scale A typical coal plant burns about 1.4 million tons of coal each year, and there are about 600 coal power plants in the U.S. The main use of coal is to generate electricity. About 90 percent of all coal in the U.S. is used for electricity. About 50 percent of the United State’s electricity is produced from coal. Other uses of coal are for steel making and heat. Costs The price of coal was about 30 dollars per short ton in 2000 and it increased to around $150.00 per short ton as of September 2008. As of October 2008, the price per short ton had declined to $111.50. These cheap prices compete with the prices of oil. Benefits Coal is easily combustible and upon combustion it produces high amounts of energy which can be used to make electricity. It is also widely and easily distributed around the world. Very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal, and it is cheap to do this. Disadvantages It is non-renewable. It will eventually run out. Burning coal releases many chemical into the air such as, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide.