A number of adverse health,[65] and environmental effects of coal burning exist,[66] especially in power stations, and of coal mining, including: Coal-fired power plants cause nearly 24,000 premature deaths annually in the United States, including 2,800 from lung cancer.[67] Annual health costs in Europe from use of coal to generate electricity are €42.8 billion, or $55 billion.[68] Generation of hundreds of millions of tons of waste products, including fly ash, bottom ash, and flue-gas desulfurization sludge, that contain mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals Acid rain from high sulfur coal Interference with groundwater and water table levels due to mining Contamination of land and waterways and destruction of homes from fly ash spills. such as the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill Impact of water use on flows of rivers and consequential impact on other land uses Dust nuisance Subsidence above tunnels, sometimes damaging infrastructure Uncontrollable coal seam fire which may burn for decades or centuries Coal-fired power plants without effective fly ash capture systems are one of the largest sources of human-caused background radiation exposure. Coal-fired power plants emit mercury, selenium, and arsenic, which are harmful to human health and the environment.[69] Release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, causes climate change and global warming, according to the IPCC and the EPA. Coal is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.[70] Approximately 75 Tg/S per year of sulfur dioxide (SO2) is released from burning coal. After release, the sulfur dioxide is oxidized to gaseous H2SO2 which scatters solar radiation, hence its increase in the atmosphere exerts a cooling effect on climate that masks some of the warming caused by increased greenhouse gases. Release of SO2 also contributes to the widespread acidification of ecosystems
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 02:20:27 +0000
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