Coal carves a place in the future of global energy
As the price of oil and natural gas soars, many customers are looking to coal as an alternative fuel. That means a boon for suppliers -- and a potential bane for the environment.
By Chris Kraul
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 20, 2008
ALBANIA, COLOMBIA — Its gray and black walls stretching to infinity, Latin America's largest coal mine resembles a miniature Grand Canyon.
The big difference is that the timeless hand of nature has not carved out El Cerrejon mine. Booming global demand has.
A fleet of electric shovels runs 24 hours a day scooping up 50 tons of coal at a swipe. The rock is loaded onto 100-car trains that roll nine times a day to a private Caribbean port, where it is placed on cargo ships that deliver it to power plants in Chile, the Netherlands, Japan, the United States' Eastern Seaboard and elsewhere.
As the global price of oil and natural gas soars, some customers are taking a new look at other fuels -- including coal. And countries such as China and India, whose demand is contributing to the price of petroleum, need even more energy. Besides petroleum products, they are buying vast amounts of coal, as well.
The worldwide demand for oil has its own set of environmental consequences -- drilling in pristine areas where it previously was uneconomical and continued emission of greenhouse gases. But environmentalists warn that renewed reliance on coal takes the threat to another level.
(Continued here.)
By Chris Kraul
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 20, 2008
ALBANIA, COLOMBIA — Its gray and black walls stretching to infinity, Latin America's largest coal mine resembles a miniature Grand Canyon.
The big difference is that the timeless hand of nature has not carved out El Cerrejon mine. Booming global demand has.
A fleet of electric shovels runs 24 hours a day scooping up 50 tons of coal at a swipe. The rock is loaded onto 100-car trains that roll nine times a day to a private Caribbean port, where it is placed on cargo ships that deliver it to power plants in Chile, the Netherlands, Japan, the United States' Eastern Seaboard and elsewhere.
As the global price of oil and natural gas soars, some customers are taking a new look at other fuels -- including coal. And countries such as China and India, whose demand is contributing to the price of petroleum, need even more energy. Besides petroleum products, they are buying vast amounts of coal, as well.
The worldwide demand for oil has its own set of environmental consequences -- drilling in pristine areas where it previously was uneconomical and continued emission of greenhouse gases. But environmentalists warn that renewed reliance on coal takes the threat to another level.
(Continued here.)
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