Energy Density and Carbon Impact
See also: Energy value of coalThe energy density of coal, i.e. its heating value, is roughly 24 megajoules per kilogram. (approximately 6.7 kilowatt-hours per kg.) For a coal power plant with a 40% efficiency, it takes an estimated 325 kg (720 lb) of coal to power a 100-W lightbulb for one year.
As of 2006, the average efficiency of electricity-generating power stations was 31%; in 2002, coal represented about 23% of total global energy supply, an equivalent of 3.4 billion tonnes of coal, of which 2.8 billion tonnes were used for electricity generation.
The US Energy Information Agency's 1999 report on CO2 emissions for energy generation quotes an emission factor of 0.963 kg CO2/kWh for coal power, compared to 0.881 kg CO2/kWh (oil), or 0.569 kg CO2/kWh (natural gas).
Read more about this topic: Coal
Famous quotes containing the words energy and/or impact:
“His eloquence was of every kind, and he excelled in the argumentative as well as in the declamatory way. But his invectives were terrible, and uttered with such energy of diction, and stern dignity of action and countenance, that he intimidated those who were the most willing and the best able to encounter him. Their arms fell out of their hands, and they shrunk under the ascendant which his genius gained over theirs.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)