Re: Coal

Arthur V. Chadwick (chadwicka@swac.edu)
Sat, 18 Jan 1997 14:47:53 -0800

John says:
>I looked up some US Almanac data to test this: Here are some numbers:
>
> 900,000,000 tons per year (US) are mined
> 2,000 pounds/ton
> 1,800,000,000,000 pounds/year (US) are mined
> 150 years of mining
> 270,000,000,000,000 pounds in 150 years have been mined
>
> 3,787,425 Area of the US (sq mi)
> x 5,280
> x 5,280
> 105,587,349,120,000 Area of the US (sq ft)
>
> 3 pounds/coal per sq ft
>
Do you really think using the present levels of extraction to calculate the
total extracted in 150 years is reasonable? Would you use the present rate
of petroleum use to extrapolate how much oil had been extracted over the
past 150 years? Have you ever visited a modern coal mine to watch the
process of extraction? Things have changed. In any case the amount mined
thus far is insignificant. Below are the proved and estimated world coal
reserves.

Region Total Recoverable
billions of tons
N America 2685 187
S America 35 10
W Europe 419 82
E Europe 170 46
USSR 4860 110
China 1438 99
India 57 34
S Africa 173 34
Australia 263 27
World totals 10100 629

Art
http://chadwicka.swau.edu