Coal is a solid fuel resulting from the fossilisation of plants, found as deposits in the form of underground seams, especially in layers dating from the Carboniferous and Permian periods (see geological periods).

Coal is the last non-renewable resource in our study set to disappear thanks to intensive exploitation by mankind.

It is a shame that it won"t be among the first to disappear.

For coal is highly polluting for the atmosphere and our planet. Its use generates 8.7 billion tonnes of CO₂ each year, with the result that world temperatures are climbing at an alarming rate (never seen before in the course of the earth"s history) and climate patterns are increasingly unsettled.

World coal reserves are estimated at 470.6 billion tonnes oil equivalent.

June 2008: at current rates of production, 2.1 billion tonnes oil equivalent per year, deposits will last 150 years. That leaves us enough time to complete our destruction of all the ecosystems. Especially since these figures are contested and reserves could be even greater.

Extractable deposits of this fossil fuel could there fore disapear for good in 2158.

(Source BP Statistical Review of world Energy 2007).

This date is only a rough indication. Sources differ, and it could change with the evolution of our civilisation. Thus some sources talk of 300 years of reserves, which would push back the end of supply to 2308 and unfortunately allow the pollution of our planet to an even more intolerable extent.

Coal is used chiefly in the production of heat and electricity.

Problems arising from its disappearance will start to make themselves felt well before any of these fateful dates. On this subject, see Hubbert"s peak theory: https://en.wikipedia.org

The reconstitution of coal reserves will take millions of years, which is of course inconceivably long on a human time-scale.

You can make it from wood, but how many of our forests will still be around in 2158?

Even if, thanks to advances in technology, we find new deposits by digging deeper and deeper into the Earth"s crust, this will afford us only a few years"reprieve and will not make a major impact on the situation. Except, of course, the generation of even more pollution.

This fuel is more evenly distributed around the globe than oil.

The major producers are also the major consumers. Their production and consumption figures are often very close. This means that coal has a much lower profile in international trade than oil or gas.

Translation Nicholas ROSE

To learn more about coal, see:

http://www.planete-energies.com/

Perhaps a ray of hope for avoiding the pollution generated by coal-fired power stations.

In Germany, a coal-fired power station claims to be CO₂-emissions-free