What are the advantages and disadvantages of coal?

Advantages

• Ample supplies (225 - 900 years) in many countries,
• High net energy yield,
• Low cost (with huge subsidies),
• Mining and combustion technology well developed,
• Air pollution can be reduced with improved technology
• It is easy to transport
• It can be turned into energy in one place quite cheaply and efficiently
• Coal is one of the world's most plentiful energy sources. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, Texas, the United States has 25 percent of the world's known coal reserves.
• Compared with other energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, coal is inexpensive, which free market policy analysts and coal industry lobbyists say will mean lower energy bills for consumers and businesses.
• Coal is not only burned directly, but it can also be transformed into liquid or gas form. Proponents claim that liquefied or gasified coal burns cleaner, meaning less air pollution.

Disadvantages

• It releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which is a major contributor to greenhouse gases.
• Coal-fired power plants are a major source of air pollution, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. Environmentalists also claim coal burning contributes to acid rain and releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming.
• Air pollution from coal-burning poses a health hazard, especially for individuals with respiratory diseases, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
• Like other fossil fuels, coal is a nonrenewable energy source. Environmentalists, conservationists, and other opponents of coal use advocate cleaner, renewable energy sources, such as wind power.
• It will eventually run out
• Mining coal is a very dangerous job - many men and women die each year in coal mine related failures and accidents
• It causes black lung disease
• Is a major contributor to acid rain
• It emits a large brown cloud around its plants that clearly prove its polluting power
• severe land disturbance,
• severe air and water pollution,
• high land use,
• severe threat to health,
• radioactive particles
• It takes millions of years to make it.