A combustible sedimentary rock formed from ancient plant matter, and the fuel that powered the Industrial Revolution. Coal fired the first steam engines, dominated world electricity generation through the twentieth century, and remains a major generation fuel, while also standing as the most carbon-intensive of the major energy sources.
Facts
Source Class First Commercial YearCoal was mined and burned for heat for centuries before any single commercial date; 1712 marks the Newcomen engine, the first machine to turn coal into mechanical work at commercial scale, which is the sense of first commercial use this atlas records. Connections
Associated With
Source United States Department of Energy Official Site
Source Drax Group Official Site
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Coal-fired generation and coal reserves are named directly by Carbon Tracker's own stranded-assets glossary entry as a real-world example of an energy asset class at risk of stranding under decarbonization policy.
Source Carbon Tracker: Unburnable Carbon - Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets
Used By
Coal-fired power station, Mpumalanga, South Africa, one of the largest coal stations in the world by capacity.
Source Energy and Civilization: A HistoryVaclav Smil
Steam turbines also run on steam raised by gas, biomass and nuclear heat; coal was the fuel of their first century.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Coal-fired power station, Taichung, Taiwan, one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world by capacity.
Sources
1. United States Energy Information Administration Official Site
US Energy Information Administrationeia.gov Energy Explained, Coal, section "Coal takes millions of years to form"Quote, eia.gov Energy Explained, Coal, section "Coal takes millions of years to form"
Coal contains the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago in swampy forests.
2. Energy and Civilization: A History
Vaclav Smil, MIT Press, 2017
Encyclopedia Britannica
United States Department of Energy Official Site
US Department of EnergyAssociated With: Carbon Capture and Storage, Carbon Capture, Utilization and StorageQuote, Associated With: Carbon Capture and Storage, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage
Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), also referred to as carbon capture, utilization and sequestration, is a process that captures carbon dioxide emissions from sources like coal-fired power plants
Drax Group Official Site
Drax Group plcAssociated With: Drax Power Station, Our sites, Drax Power StationQuote, Associated With: Drax Power Station, Our sites, Drax Power Station
Its two coal units ceased commercial operations in March 2021
Carbon Tracker: Unburnable Carbon - Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets
Carbon Tracker Initiative, 2013Associated With: Stranded Assets, Carbon Tracker, Terms List, Stranded AssetsQuote, Associated With: Stranded Assets, Carbon Tracker, Terms List, Stranded Assets
There are already examples of coal mines, coal and gas power plants, and other hydrocarbon reserves which have become stranded by the low carbon transition.
Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Charcoal, Charcoal iron
All ironmaking blast furnaces were fueled by charcoal until Abraham Darby introduced coke as a fuel in 1709.
Associated With: Peat, Coal, Origin
Peat, a precursor of coal
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