Inside Impacts of Coal Mining
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America’s significant coal reserves will play a vital role in the future of our nation’s energy security. The global demand for energy is consistently rising around the world, and this trend is only expected to increase in the future as developing nations approach rapid industrialization. Economic competitiveness means protecting against short-term energy disruptions, providing for long-term access to reliable and diverse energy sources. As America’s most plentiful domestic energy resource, our nation’s energy security framework will be built on coal.
Economic development
It is no secret that the U.S. built its economic foundation on access to reliable, affordable energy. In fact, developing nations overseas are attempting to
emulate that model, with China alone building a new coal-fired power plant every single week. However, many developing nations lack the indigenous natural resources to provide electric power to their people, so coal exports from production areas like the United States are expected to grow significantly over the next quarter century.
In fact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that international coal demand will rise by nearly 50 percent between 2015 and 2035. U.S. coal resources will provide both a secure source of energy here at home, and an export opportunity for an American-produced product.
Seaborne trade of coal
Developing economies around the world rely on an expanded use of coal for both power generation and steelmaking. China, the world’s fastest growing economy, consumes more coal than it can mine and relies on seaborne imports to enhance its supply. India also exhibits a rapidly-growing economy, and relies on seaborne imported coal to underpin its ever-growing energy demands. Both of these globally-important economies utilize coal at an ever-increasing rate, and depend upon imports from around the world to sustain their needs.
Poverty prevention
In contrast, approximately one-fifth of the world’s population is still without
access to electricity. While this is almost unimaginable to the average American, a lack of energy supply continues to keep many poverty-stricken nations around the planet from moving forward with sustainable economic growth. According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2011:
(Click image above to link to report) A nation's quality of life is directly correlated to electricity use per capita. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the electrification rate is less than 60 percent in urban areas and just over 30 percent in rural areas. More than half of the population in that region earns less than a dollar a day. The connection between poverty and electricity access simply can’t be overstated. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), nearly a quarter of the Earth's current population - approximately 1.5 billion people - has no access to electricity. The World Health Organization (WHO), approximates that nearly 2.7 billion people on the planet (approximately 40% of all people on earth) currently rely on the burning of biomass such as wood and dung for their heating and cooking needs. Access to electricity drives economic development - the
International Energy Agency’s 2010 World Energy Outlook projects that worldwide electricity demand will increase 90 percent between 2008 and 2035 – and roughly 80 percent of newly installed electricity generation in the developing world is projected to be coal-fired. Coal continues to provide the energy behind electricity generation for most of the world.