COAL POWER

Coal Power Currently America’s main source of electric energy is coal, which accounts for 1.97 PW per year or 52% of America’s electric energy. We are currently extremely dependent on it for a number of different reasons. Coal is a reliable source of energy. Which is very abundant in the United States, one fourth of the world’s supply of coal is found with in the borders of the United States. This supply will allow America to remain independent from other countries for energy, for at least the next 250 years. Coal also gives Americans a stable and cheap source of energy. Allowing Americans to run business and meet utilities needs for the home, without having to worry about fluctuations in prices. Coal also creates huge amounts of money and jobs into the United States economy. Last year coal brought in $161 billion dollars into the U.S. economy, while supplying 81,000 people with jobs. Despite this, Coal also has a large down side, its mining and byproducts created when burning; cause an enormous strain on the environment. The process of creating coal energy leads to environmental problems such as global warming, smog, acid rain, poor air quality, radioactive materials in the environment, and soil degradation. Our policy on coal is reducing this percentage from 52% to 44% over the next 25 years. Although, we expect over the next 25-year the electric energy needs in the United States will rise by 50%, causing our overall use of coal power generation to rise from 1.97 PW to 2.5 PW per year. So to meet this large demand we are going to have to continue using and renovating old power plants. These power plants will be force to meet our new and much more strict set of emissions regulations standards. We will also have to build new power plants to meet our additional needs. The current power plants in the United States are extremely inefficient.