Is coal really the answer?

By Henrylito D. Tacio
The most viable source of electricity for Mindanao is still coal.  That was what President Benigno Aquino III told the local press during the launching of the Mindanao Inclusive Agribusiness Program in Davao City recently.
When asked how his administration would address environmental groups’ resistance to government efforts to attract more investment for power generation in Mindanao, the president answered: ““If Mindanao needs it (power) now, coal is one of the most accessible at this point in time.”
Although the government wants to use renewable energy to address the power generation problem in the country’s second largest island, it is facing a lot of issues.  “The problem is that we all know how expensive it would be if we go solar or other forms of renewable energy,” the President was quoted as saying by Philippine News Agency.
According to Aquino, his administration is looking into natural gas as possible source of power generation in Mindanao.  But again, natural gas also has some problems.  “Our problem with natural gas,” he said, “is that there is no regasification plant in the Philippines.  Gas occupies a big volume, and transporting to producers requires that it be made into liquefied gas or compressed natural gas. And to use our turbine plants, it must be turned back into a completely gaseous state. That is what gasification is.”
During the recent Climate Change Media Workshop for Mindanao-based journalists, Dr. Rosa Perez of the Manila Observatory said that climate change will have adverse effects on agriculture, forest and biodiversity, health, marine resources, and energy.
Dr. Perez said Mindanao’s power supply, for instance, would suffer heavily as the heat would dry up the hydroelectric sources. This would mean it has to rely more on imported coal and oil.
Although Secretary Lucille Sering, vice-chairperson of the Climate Change Commission, did not categorically support coal power plants, she said that Philippine carbon emission is below one percent when compared to develop countries.
But Sering warned that using coal power plants to generate power would consume tons of water to produce the desired power supply capacity.
The question now is: Why is there so much ado about coal?
Coal (from the Old English term col, which has meant “mineral of fossilized carbon”) is a fossil fuel that supplies 28 percent of the world’s fuel.  “Coal began to form 300 million years ago when large regions of the earth were covered with tropical swamps containing dense vegetation,” wrote H. Steven Dashefsky, author of “Environmental Literacy: Everything You Need to Know about Saving Our Planet.”  As the fast-growing vegetation died and accumulated under the water, it formed a material called peat, which is the first step in the formation of coal.  The peat was gradually covered by sediment.
“Over time, pressure squeezed out much of the water and compressed the peat into lignite coal (also called brown coal), which contains about 40 percent moisture.  With heat from the earth and continued pressure, lignite was transformed into a soft type of coal balled bituminous coal, which has only about 3 percent moisture.  With continued heat and pressure, hard coal called anthracite was finally formed.”
The entire process took hundreds of millions of years.  “Coal is not a pure substance,” wrote Penelope ReVelle and Charles ReVelle, authors of “The Environment: Issues and Choices for Society.”  “In addition to carbon, it contains inorganic material that remains after coal has been burned; it’s called ash.  Sulfur also occurs in coal, sometimes as iron sulphide and sometimes combined with organic compounds.  Arsenic is also present in coal, as are radioactive elements.”
Coal may be “the dirtiest of the fossil fuels,” but it is a magnificent source of heat energy.  “Burning 0.454 kilogram of bituminous coal releases 13,000 Btu, or 13,700 kilojoules of heat energy,” the ReVelles wrote.
At least 40 percent of the world’s electricity comes from coal.  In 2012, about one-third of the United States’ electricity came from coal.  Ten percent of the world’s coal reserves (identified deposits) are located in the US, while over 50 percent are in China.
Coal contains high heat content at economical costs, but many environmental problems are associated with its use.  Coal is touted to be the dirtiest fossil fuel to burn and it generates hundreds of millions of tons of waste products, including fly ash, bottom ash, and flue-gas desulfurization sludge that contain mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals.
Burning of coal releases pollutants that help contribute to acid rain.  In addition, the burning may release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus causing the climate change phenomenon.  Studies have shown that coal-fired electric power generation emits around 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide for every megawatt-hour generated.  This is almost double the approximately 1100 pounds of carbon dioxide released by a natural gas-fired electric plant per megawatt-hour generated.
According to Wikipedia, coal-fired power plants without effective fly ash capture systems are one of the largest sources of human-caused background radiation exposure.  They also emit mercury, selenium, and arsenic, which are harmful to human health and the environment.
But there’s good news.  “New technologies can burn coal more efficiently and more cleanly,” Dashefsky noted. “This includes the fluidized-bed combustion method, which will begin replacing old-style coal burners.  It converts solid coal into gas or liquid fuels called synfuels.”
Mindanao gets its power from four major sources: hydropower, coal, oil, and geothermal – in that order.  The bulk – 662 MW or 52 percent – comes from hydropower. Oil contributes 24 percent of the power supply (311 MW) while geothermal is the source of 8 percent (98 MW). The remaining 16 percent (203 MW) comes from coal.
“We are heavily dependent on hydropower which is coming only from one source, Lake Lanao,” says Manuel ‘Bobby’ Orig, first Vice President for Aboitiz Power Corp. in Mindanao. “This is the reason why during summer months or during long dry spell, when water level in Lake Lanao is very low, the power supply in Mindanao is gravely affected.”