Coal, burned as fuel

Burning coal for fuel is one of the most common, and at the same time most polluting, ways of obtaining energy for heating, cooking, and generating electricity in the world.

The data on radionuclides released during coal combustion is found in this article.

Most of the other pollution data comes from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Please help improve this section!

Impact of one pound
of "Coal, burned as fuel":

Overall impact (CEII): 1118
Depletion (DI): 185.14	Pollution (PI): 1127.61	Entropy (EI)): 0

How the environment impact was calculated:

Production:

Requires:
Resource or Item	Amount	Unit	Depletion (DI)	Pollution (PI)	Entropy (EI)	Total Impact (CEII)
Coal, mined	1	pound	185.14	363.83	0	361.85

Releases:
Resource or Item	Amount	Unit	Pollution (PI)	Total Impact (CEII)
Carbon dioxide pollution	2.84	pound	101.39	100.37
Sulfur dioxide pollution	0.016	pound	395.27	391.32
Nitrogen oxides pollution	0.0076	pound	135.66	134.3
Ash	0.095	pound	33.92	33.58
Radioactive waste	4.5e-06	pound	28.92	28.63
Carbon monoxide pollution	0.00055	pound	3.22	3.19
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)	0.00017	pound	60.69	60.08
Mercury pollution	6e-08	pound	1.93	1.91
Arsenic pollution	7.9e-08	pound	2.54	2.51
Lead pollution	4e-08	pound	0.26	0.25

Use:

Requires:
Resource or Item	Amount	Unit	Depletion (DI)	Pollution (PI)	Entropy (EI)	Total Impact (CEII)
			0	0	0	0

Releases:
Resource or Item	Amount	Unit	Depletion (DI)	Pollution (PI)	Entropy (EI)	Total Impact (CEII)
			0	0	0	0

Disposal:

Requires:
Resource or Item	Amount	Unit	Depletion (DI)	Pollution (PI)	Entropy (EI)	Total Impact (CEII)
			0	0	0	0

Releases:
Resource or Item	Amount	Unit	Depletion (DI)	Pollution (PI)	Entropy (EI)	Total Impact (CEII)
			0	0	0	0

Add new comment

Navigation

Check the impact:

Search

User login

Coal, burned as fuel

Definitions