Does COAL produce more CO2 ?

Question

Comparing only CO2, not particulates or other pollutants, for a given unit of thermal energy, does coal produce more CO2 than diesel or natural gas?

If two energy sources were roughly equal in CO2 production, how would you analyze the economic and international consequences of buying a fuel from the Middle East rather than a domestic source?

Answer 1

Coal produces more CO2

However, the difference is not great. Any fossil fuel is unacceptable--and

headed for the scrapyard in any case.  These are technologies that date from the 1800s. They are outdated. This is the 211st century. We have cost effective solar, wind, and nuclear energy--and others well on th eway to development.  Practical electric cars are already on the market.

Look at what the businesses in the US and Europe are doing. They aren't investing any capital in oil or coal based technology (except for the companies actually in the field--and they are spending more on alternative energy than anything to do with fossil fuels).  All the new investment is going into alternative enrgy. No one is going to waste money on fossil fuels--they are obsolete, regardless of the environmental issue.

Answer 2

yes.  Other fuels are hydrocarbons so they make water when they burn.  OH, water is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.

Supply and demand will kick in.  If the domestic source can not supply the needs, then the price will rise.  It all comes out in the end, you buy from the lowest cost source.

Answer 3

There is just 2 things that burn. Hydrogen ,and Corbin. When U burn hydrogen it produces water vapor. When U burn corbin it produces CO2. Only a very small amount is hydrogen.The energy is represented very accurate to the CO2 it produces. Yes coal would produce the most,it produces a very hot fire.The CO2 is just part of the corbin cycle. Very much like like the water cycle. The corbin cycle is like this.. U burn some coal, and it produces CO2 , which the plants need to live . They recycle the CO2 and give us oxygen,but the plant keeps the C for its food. Later in the cycle the plant dies and will break down into oil& gas... The plants love the CO2 U produce.  

Answer 4

Yes, burning coal produces more CO2 than burning diesel or natural gas.  As someone else already pointed out, diesel fuel and natural gas are "hydrocarbons," and coal (without the impurities) is almost pure carbon.

Some of the energy you get from burning hydrocarbons comes from burning the hydrogen in the hydrocarbon, so you get water vapor in the end.  When you burn coal, though, all the energy is from burning carbon, and so you get carbon dioxide from it.

Your second question is totally at right angles to your first.  The only way it makes sense to me is if you're trying to make a case for the US drilling for oil off the coasts and in Alaska -- as opposed to trying to produce auto fuels from "liquid coal" or gasified coal, say.

The fact is, diesel fuel and natural gas are bad enough as sources of CO2, even if coal burning is worse.

Converting coal to a gasified or liquified form, so you can use it as a substitute for hydrocarbon fuels, is inefficient in terms of energy production, and would therefore be even worse for the climate than burning the coal in solid form.

So in terms of CO2 production, all of the choices you've offered are pretty destructive.  If we're only thinking about money and national energy security, then it may make sense either to drill for oil in our wildlife refuges, or to develop "liquid coal" fuels.

But it terms of climate change, they're both unwise.  

Answer 5

Coal Produces 205 to 227 pounds of CO2 per million BTU

Nat Gas Produces 117 pounds CO2 per million BTU

Diesel Yields 161 pounds CO2 per million BTU

Gasoline 156 pounds CO2 per million BTU

Wind, Solar, Hydro, Nuke Produce 0 CO2 emmissions

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/coeffic...

As you can see, coal has by far the most CO2 em missions per unit energy, plus is also emmits Sulfur Dioxide, mercury, and uranium.

You can't really compare coal and oil anyway because we don't use oil for electricity generation (less than 2%).

Besides coal, we do have a abundance of natural gas.  T Boone Pickens idea is go replace natural gas plants with wind farms, and use the nat gas to replace gasoline, which will reduce our foreign oil dependence.