How much CO2 and other kinds of pollution would be released if we powered a 100-watt lightbulb for a year using electricity from a coal plant? Let’s dig in.
Burning coal creates CO2, NOx, SO2, mercury, and uranium. Coal also uses large amounts of land and water. See how 1 MWh of coal power impacts the environment.
Renewable energy technologies like solar, hydro, and wind require a lot of land. But, how does their impact compare to coal, nuclear, and natural gas?
Earth’s continents receive 23,000 terawatt hours of solar energy each year, compared to the 18.5 terawatt hours used by all of modern society each year.
Coal began as dead plants that fell to the bottom of vast swamps millions of years ago. Which countries have the biggest reserves and which burns the most?
From old steamboats to the mines of Appalachia, to World War II, to the oil crisis of 1973, coal has played an easily overlooked but surprisingly foundational role in building America and the world.
If you want to get a visceral sense of how much coal it takes to power our world, you can start by calculating the amount that is required to power a single lightbulb.
How much CO2 and other kinds of pollution would be released if we powered a 100-watt lightbulb for a year using electricity from a coal plant? Let’s dig in.
There are five trends driving the replacement of fossil fuels with clean energy from the sun and wind, and none of them require sweeping new legislation or technology breakthroughs.
Coal, nuclear, wind, solar, or natural gas? What criteria should we use when comparing various types of electricity generation, and which one comes out on top?
The dirty secret of power plants Every time we turn on a light, crank up the air conditioning or wash our clothes, we are using
We WILL run out of fossil fuels. In fact, we will run out of natural gas, coal, and even uranium much sooner than most people realize. It may not be during many of our lifetimes, but it will most certainly be during our children’s.
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