Misplaced Pages

#242757

104-532: Ellerbeck Colliery was a coal mine located on the border of Coppull and Adlington in the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire , England. The Hilton House and Red Moss Coal Company sank the first shaft in 1876 and the colliery closed in 1928. In 1896 Ellerbeck employed 460 underground workers and 148 on the surface. In 1923 Ellerbeck Nos. 1 & 2 pits had expanded to employ 892 underground workers and 156 on

208-683: A coal preparation plant . Technical and economic feasibility are evaluated based on the following: regional geological conditions; overburden characteristics; coal seam continuity, thickness, structure, quality, and depth; strength of materials above and below the seam for roof and floor conditions; topography, especially altitude and slope; climate; land ownership as it affects the availability of land for mining and access; surface drainage patterns; groundwater conditions; availability of labor and materials; coal purchaser requirements in terms of tonnage, quality, and destination; and capital investment requirements. Surface mining and deep underground mining are

312-705: A 70% increase over the 20 years since 1999. In 2018, the world production of brown coal (lignite) was 803.2 Mt, with Germany the world's largest producer at 166.3 Mt. China is most likely the second largest producer and consumer of lignite globally although specific lignite production data is not made available. Coal production has grown fastest in Asia, while Europe has declined. Since 2011, world coal production has been stable, with decreases in Europe and US offset by increases from China, Indonesia and Australia. The top coal mining nations are: Energy production from coal mining

416-420: A Lancashire building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In

520-463: A bill that would delay for three years the implementation of more stringent emission standards for new residential wood heaters. Some European countries produce a significant fraction of their electricity needs from wood or wood wastes. In Scandinavian countries the costs of manual labor to process firewood is very high. Therefore, it is common to import firewood from countries with cheap labor and natural resources. The main exporters to Scandinavia are

624-467: A coal seam occurring near the top of a ridge or hill, the entire top is removed in a series of parallel cuts. Overburden is deposited in nearby valleys and hollows. This method usually leaves the ridge and hilltops as flattened plateaus. The process is highly controversial for the drastic changes in topography, the practice of creating head-of-hollow-fills , or filling in valleys with mining debris, and for covering streams and disrupting ecosystems. Spoil

728-533: A discourse on forest trees" (1664) advising landowners on the proper management of forest estates. H. L. Edlin, in "Woodland Crafts in Britain", 1949 outlines the extraordinary techniques employed, and range of wood products that have been produced from these managed forests since pre-Roman times. And throughout this time the preferred form of wood fuel was the branches of cut coppice stems bundled into faggots . Larger, bent or deformed stems that were of no other use to

832-399: A furnace, stove , or fireplace , or outdoors in furnace, campfire , or bonfire . Wood has been used as fuel for millennia. Historically, it was limited in use only by the distribution of technology required to make a spark. Heat derived from wood is still common throughout much of the world. Early examples included a fire constructed inside a tent. Fires were constructed on the ground, and

936-460: A great variety of styles, though none resembles the original design. The 1800s became the high point of the cast iron stove. Each local foundry would make their own design, and stoves were built for myriads of purposes—parlour stoves, box stoves, camp stoves, railroad stoves, portable stoves, cooking stoves and so on. Elaborate nickel and chrome edged models took designs to the edge, with cast ornaments, feet and doors. Wood or coal could be burnt in

1040-403: A greater proportion of the coal deposit than underground methods, as more of the coal seams in the strata may be exploited. This equipment can include the following: Draglines which operate by removing the overburden, power shovels, large trucks in which transport overburden and coal, bucket wheel excavators, and conveyors. In this mining method, explosives are first used in order to break through

1144-481: A higher amount of energy per unit mass, specific energy or massic energy, and can often be obtained in areas where wood is not readily available. Though it was used historically as a domestic fuel, coal is now used mostly in industry, especially in smelting and alloy production, as well as electricity generation . Large-scale coal mining developed during the Industrial Revolution , and coal provided

SECTION 10

#1732781059243

1248-440: A land use condition is not equal to the original use. Existing land uses (such as livestock grazing, crop and timber production) are temporarily eliminated in mining areas. High-value, intensive-land-use areas like urban and transportation systems are not usually affected by mining operations. If mineral values are sufficient, these improvements may be removed to an adjacent area. Strip mining eliminates existing vegetation, destroys

1352-440: A large dining-room table, but with hydraulic jacks for legs. After the large pillars of coal have been mined away, the mobile roof support's legs shorten and it is withdrawn to a safe area. The mine roof typically collapses once the mobile roof supports leave an area. There are six principal methods of underground mining: Coal is mined commercially in over 50 countries. 7,921 million metric tons (Mt) of coal were produced in 2019,

1456-447: A method that currently accounts for about 60 percent of world coal production. In deep mining, the room and pillar or bord and pillar method progresses along the seam, while pillars and timber are left standing to support the mine roof. Once room and pillar mines have been developed to a stopping point limited by geology, ventilation, or economics, a supplementary version of room and pillar mining, termed second mining or retreat mining ,

1560-562: A new coal mine. Wood fuel The discovery of how to make fire for the purpose of burning wood is regarded as one of humanity's most important advances. The use of wood as a fuel source for heating is much older than civilization and is assumed to have been used by Neanderthals . Today, burning of wood is the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass . Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating , and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity . Wood may be used indoors in

1664-589: A result of occupational exposures is coined occupational hearing loss . To protect miners' hearing, the US Mine Safety and Health Administration 's (MSHA) guidelines for noise place a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for noise at 90 dBA time-weighted over 8 hours. A lower cutoff, 85 dBA, is set for a worker to fall into the MSHA Action Level which dictates that workers be placed into hearing conservation programs. Noise exposures vary depending on

1768-414: A result, forest fires occurred, along with floods and soil erosion. Around 1666, the shōgun made it a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. This policy decreed that only the shōgun, or a daimyō , could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry . The development of the chimney and

1872-551: A smoke hole in the top of the tent allowed the smoke to escape by convection. In permanent structures and in caves, hearths were constructed or established—surfaces of stone or another noncombustible material upon which a fire could be built. Smoke escaped through a smoke hole in the roof. In contrast to civilizations in relatively arid regions (such as Mesopotamia and Egypt), the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Britons, and Gauls all had access to forests suitable for using as fuel. Over

1976-402: A standard stacked cord, where there is less void space. It is also common to see wood sold by the "face cord", which is usually not legally defined, and varies from one area to another. For example, in one state a pile of wood 8 feet wide × 4 feet high of 16 inch-long logs will often be sold as a "face cord", though its volume is only one-third of a cord. In another state, or even another area of

2080-485: A surface (also called an open cast) mine. Additionally, coal seam thickness and geology are factors in the selection of a mining method. The most economical method of coal extraction for surface mines is the electric shovel or drag line. The most economical form of underground mining is the long wall, which involves using two spinning drums with carbide bits that runs along sections of the coal seam. Many coals extracted from both surface and underground mines require washing in

2184-487: Is wood ash , which in moderate amounts is a fertilizer (mainly potash ), contributing minerals, but is strongly alkaline as it contains potassium hydroxide (lye). Wood ash can also be used to manufacture soap . Smoke , containing water vapor , carbon dioxide and other chemicals and aerosol particulates, including caustic alkali fly ash , which can be an irritating (and potentially dangerous) by-product of partially burnt wood fuel. A major component of wood smoke

SECTION 20

#1732781059243

2288-425: Is abundant. For serious attempts at heating, rather than mere ambience (open fireplaces), stoves, fireplace inserts, and furnaces are most commonly used today. In rural, forested parts of the U.S., freestanding boilers are increasingly common. They are installed outdoors, some distance from the house, and connected to a heat exchanger in the house using underground piping. The mess of wood, bark, smoke, and ashes

2392-575: Is accomplished by drilling holes into the overburden, filling the holes with explosives, and detonating the explosive. The overburden is then removed, using large earth-moving equipment, such as draglines , shovel and trucks, excavator and trucks, or bucket-wheels and conveyors. This overburden is put into the previously mined (and now empty) strip. When all the overburden is removed, the underlying coal seam will be exposed (a 'block' of coal). This block of coal may be drilled and blasted (if hard) or otherwise loaded onto trucks or conveyors for transport to

2496-456: Is burnt will greatly influence the content of the emission. Particulate air pollution can contribute to human health problems and increased hospital admissions for asthma & heart diseases. The technique of compressing wood pulp into pellets or artificial logs can reduce emissions. The combustion is cleaner, and the increased wood density and reduced water content can eliminate some of the transport bulk. The fossil energy consumed in transport

2600-427: Is commonly started. Miners remove the coal in the pillars, thereby recovering as much coal from the coal seam as possible. A work area involved in pillar extraction is called a pillar section. Modern pillar sections use remote-controlled equipment, including large hydraulic mobile roof-supports, which can prevent cave-ins until the miners and their equipment have left a work area. The mobile roof supports are similar to

2704-599: Is comparable to the wood consumed by all of Victoria's sawlog and pulplog forestry operations (1.9 million m³). Species used as sources of firewood include: In 2014, the construction of the biggest pellet plant in the Baltic region was started in Võrumaa , Sõmerpalu , Estonia, with an expected output of 110,000 tons of pellet / year. Different types of wood will be used in the process of pellet making (firewood, woodchips, shavings). The Warmeston OÜ plant started its activity by

2808-418: Is dedicated to mining activities until it can be reshaped and reclaimed. If mining is allowed, resident human populations must be resettled off the mine site; economic activities, such as agriculture or hunting and gathering food and medicinal plants are interrupted. What becomes of the land surface after mining is determined by the manner in which the mining is conducted. Usually reclamation of disturbed lands to

2912-499: Is fine particles that may account for a large portion of particulate air pollution in some regions. During cooler months, wood heating accounts for as much as 60% of fine particles in Melbourne , Australia . Significant quantities of volatile organic compounds are released from the combustion of fuel wood . Large quantities of smaller oxygenate species are released during the combustion process, as well as organics formed from

3016-438: Is given to soil nutrition as well as erosion. The environmental impact of using wood as a fuel depends on how it is burnt. Higher temperatures result in more complete combustion and less noxious gases as a result of pyrolysis. Some may regard the burning of wood from a sustainable source as carbon-neutral . A tree, over the course of its lifetime, absorbs as much carbon (or carbon dioxide) as it releases when burnt. Some firewood

3120-437: Is harvested in " woodlots " managed for that purpose, but in heavily wooded areas it is more often harvested as a byproduct of natural forests . Deadfall that has not started to rot is preferred, since it is already partly seasoned . Standing dead timber is considered better still, as it is both seasoned, and has less rot. Harvesting this form of timber reduces the speed and intensity of bushfires . Harvesting timber for firewood

3224-516: Is highly concentrated in certain jurisdictions, which also concentrates much of the social and economic impacts of the industry to these regions. The industry directly employs over seven million workers worldwide, which, in turn, creates millions of indirect jobs. In several parts of the world, producers have reached peak coal as some economies shift away from fossil fuels to address climate change. A 2020 study found that renewables jobs could feasibly be created in these geographies to replace many of

Ellerbeck Colliery - Misplaced Pages Continue

3328-431: Is kept outside and the risk of fire is reduced. The boilers are large enough to hold a fire all night and can burn larger pieces of wood, thus less cutting and splitting is required. There is no need to retrofit a chimney in the house. However, outdoor wood boilers emit more wood smoke and associated pollutants than other wood-burning appliances. This is due to design characteristics such as the water-filled jacket surrounding

3432-484: Is mostly used to generate electricity, and 75% of annual coal production is exported, mostly to eastern Asia. In 2007, 428 million tonnes of coal was mined in Australia. In 2007, coal provided about 85% of Australia's electricity production. In the fiscal year 2008/09, 487 million tonnes of coal was mined, and 261 million tonnes was exported. In the fiscal year 2013/14, 430.9 million tonnes of coal

3536-412: Is normally carried out by hand with chainsaws . Thus, longer pieces - requiring less manual labor, and less chainsaw fuel - are less expensive and only limited by the size of their firebox. Prices also vary considerably with the distance from wood lots, and quality of the wood. Firewood usually relates to timber or trees unsuitable for building or construction . Firewood is a renewable resource provided

3640-417: Is partially economically recoverable. Coal refuse is distinct from the byproducts of burning coal, such as fly ash . Piles of coal refuse can have significant negative environmental consequences, including the leaching of iron, manganese, and aluminum residues into waterways and acid mine drainage . The runoff can create both surface and groundwater contamination. The piles also create a fire hazard, with

3744-593: Is placed at the head of a narrow, steep-sided valley or hollow. In preparation for filling this area, vegetation and soil are removed and a rock drain constructed down the middle of the area to be filled, where a natural drainage course previously existed. When the fill is completed, this underdrain will form a continuous water runoff system from the upper end of the valley to the lower end of the fill. Typical head-of-hollow fills are graded and terraced to create permanently stable slopes. Most coal seams are too deep underground for opencast mining and require underground mining,

3848-475: Is reduced and represents a small fraction of the fossil fuel consumed in producing and distributing heating oil or gas. Much wood fuel comes from native forests around the world. Plantation wood is rarely used for firewood, as it is more valuable as timber or wood pulp , however, some wood fuel is gathered from trees planted amongst crops, also known as agroforestry . The collection or harvesting of this wood can have serious environmental implications for

3952-436: Is referred to as 'overburden' and is removed in long strips. The overburden from the first strip is deposited in an area outside the planned mining area and referred to as out-of-pit dumping. Overburden from subsequent strips is deposited in the void left from mining the coal and overburden from the previous strip. This is referred to as in-pit dumping. It is often necessary to fragment the overburden by use of explosives. This

4056-515: Is removed and overburden dumped to the side. Dust, vibration, and diesel exhaust odors are created (affecting sight, sound, and smell). Residents of local communities often find such impacts disturbing or unpleasant. In case of mountaintop removal , tops are removed from mountains or hills to expose thick coal seams underneath. The soil and rock removed is deposited in nearby valleys, hollows and depressions, resulting in blocked (and contaminated) waterways. Removal of soil and rock overburden covering

4160-712: Is still common, with 4,000 new cases of black lung every year in the US (4 percent of workers annually) and 10,000 new cases every year in China (0.2 percent of workers). The use of water sprays in mining equipment reduces the risk to miners' lungs. Build-ups of a hazardous gas are known as damps, possibly from the German word Dampf which means steam or vapor: Noise is also a contributing factor to potential adverse effects on coal miners' health. Exposure to excessive noise can lead to noise-induced hearing loss . Hearing loss developed as

4264-449: Is still used today for cooking in many places, either in a stove or an open fire. It is also used as a fuel in many industrial processes, including smoking meat and making maple syrup . As a sustainable energy source, wood fuel also remains viable for generating electricity in areas with easy access to forest products and by-products. In the metric system , firewood is normally sold by the cubic metre or stere (1 m ≈ 0.276 cords ). In

Ellerbeck Colliery - Misplaced Pages Continue

4368-452: Is the single largest consuming market for industrial wood pellets, in large part due to its major biomass-fueled power stations such as Drax , MGT and Lynemouth . Japan and South Korea are both growing markets for industrial wood pellets, and as of 2017, were expected to become the second and third largest global markets for wood pellets due to government policies favoring the use of biomass in power generation. Demand for wood fuel in

4472-435: Is used for both thermal and metallurgical coals . In New South Wales open casting for steam coal and anthracite is practiced. Surface mining accounts for around 80 percent of production in Australia, while in the US it is used for about 67 percent of production. Globally, about 40 percent of coal production involves surface mining. Strip mining exposes coal by removing earth above each coal seam. This earth to be removed

4576-658: The Ashley heater , a thermostatically controlled stove with an optional perforated steel enclosure that prevented accidental contact with hot surfaces. The decade also saw a number of dual-fuel furnaces and boilers made, which utilized ductwork and piping to deliver heat throughout a house or other building. The growth in popularity of wood heat also led to the development and marketing of a greater variety of equipment for cutting, splitting and processing firewood. Consumer grade hydraulic log splitters were developed to be powered by electricity, gasoline, or PTO of farm tractors. In 1987

4680-671: The Baltic countries (Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia). In Finland , there is a growing interest in using wood waste as fuel for home and industrial heating, in the form of compacted pellets . Many lower- and middle-income countries rely on wood for energy purposes (notably cooking). The largest producers are all in these income groups and have large populations with a high reliance on wood for energy: in 2021, India ranked first with 300 million m ³ (15 percent of total production), followed by China with 156 million m3 and Brazil with 129 million m ³ (8 percent and 7 percent of global production). In

4784-459: The Delhi area of India were shown to be 30 times more reactive with the hydroxyl radical than emissions from liquefied petroleum gas . Furthermore, when comparing 21 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from the same fuel wood samples from Delhi , emissions from fuel wood were around 20 times more toxic than emissions from liquefied petroleum gas . In some of the most efficient burners,

4888-606: The Lancashire Union Railway , remnants of which including the old bridge foundations on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal are evident today. The branch line was shared with neighbouring Duxbury Park Colliery. The colliery was so important to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway that, despite not being a passenger station, it appeared on their route maps, Bibliography This article about

4992-580: The US Department of Agriculture published a method for producing kiln dried firewood, on the basis that better heat output and increased combustion efficiency can be achieved with logs containing lower moisture content. The magazine "Wood Burning Quarterly" was published for several years before changing its name to "Home Energy Digest" and, subsequently, disappearing. A pellet stove is an appliance that burns compressed wood or biomass pellets . Wood heat continues to be used in areas where firewood

5096-544: The United Kingdom and South Africa , a coal mine and its structures are a colliery , a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a " pit head ". In Australia , "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging, and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open-cut and longwall mines. Mining at this scale requires

5200-430: The depolymerisation reaction of lignin such as phenolics, furans and furanones. The combustion of fuel wood has also been shown to release many organic compounds into the aerosol phase. The burning of fuel woods has been shown to release organic components over a range of volatilities, over effective saturation concentrations, C *, from 10 -10 μg m . The emissions from fuel wood samples collected from

5304-420: The fireplace allowed for more effective exhaustion of the smoke. Masonry heaters or stoves went a step further by capturing much of the heat of the fire and exhaust in a large thermal mass, becoming much more efficient than a fireplace alone. The metal stove was a technological development concurrent with the Industrial Revolution . Stoves were manufactured or constructed pieces of equipment that contained

SECTION 50

#1732781059243

5408-503: The global energy economy . The major coal producing countries, though, such as China , Indonesia, India and Australia , have not reached peak production, with production increases replacing falls in Europe and the United States and proposed mines under development. The coal mining industry employs almost 2.7 million workers. The History of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China,

5512-400: The 1860s onward. By the late 20th century, coal was, for the most part, replaced in domestic as well as industrial and transportation usage by oil , natural gas or electricity produced from oil, gas, nuclear power or renewable energy sources. By 2010, coal produced over a fourth of the world's energy. Coal extraction methods vary depending on whether the mine is an underground mine or

5616-508: The CO 2 by integrating the hydrocarbons of the wood into their life cycle. Wood harvesting and transport operations produce varying degrees of greenhouse gas pollution. Inefficient and incomplete combustion of wood can result in elevated levels of greenhouse gases other than CO 2 , which may result in positive emissions where the byproducts have greater Carbon dioxide equivalent values. In an attempt to provide quantitative information about

5720-668: The Government of Western Australia states that the energy content of wood is 16.2 megajoules per kilogram (4.5 kWh/kg). According to The Bioenergy Knowledge Centre , the energy content of wood is more closely related to its moisture content than its species. The energy content improves as moisture content decreases. In 2008, wood for fuel cost $ 15.15 per 1 million BTUs (0.041 EUR per kWh). As with any fire , burning wood fuel creates numerous by-products, some of which may be useful (heat and steam), and others that are undesirable, irritating or dangerous. One by-product of wood burning

5824-579: The Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity. Coal mining continues as an important economic activity today, but has begun to decline due to the strong contribution coal plays in global warming and environmental issues, which result in decreasing demand and in some geographies, peak coal . Compared to wood fuels , coal yields

5928-812: The U.S., Examples include the Sago Mine disaster of 2006, and the 2007 mine accident in Utah 's Crandall Canyon Mine , where nine miners were killed and six entombed. In the decade 2005–2014, US coal mining fatalities averaged 28 per year. The most fatalities during the 2005–2014 decade were 48 in 2010, the year of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, which killed 29 miners. Chronic lung diseases, such as pneumoconiosis (black lung) were once common in miners, leading to reduced life expectancy . In some mining countries black lung

6032-624: The US Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) show that between 1990 and 2004, the industry cut the rate of injuries by more than half and fatalities by two-thirds. But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , even in 2006, mining remained the second most dangerous occupation in America, when measured by fatality rate . These numbers, however, include all mining activities, and oil and gas mining contribute to

6136-410: The United States and Canada, firewood is usually sold by the cord , 128 ft (3.62 m ), corresponding to a woodpile 8 ft wide × 4 ft high of 4 ft-long logs. The cord is legally defined by statute in most U.S. states. A "thrown cord" is firewood that has not been stacked and is defined as 4 ft wide × 4 ft tall × 10 ft long. The additional volume is to make it equivalent to

6240-457: The United States, wood fuel is the second-leading form of renewable energy (behind hydro-electric ). About 1.5 million households in Australia use firewood as the main form of domestic heating. As of 1995, approximately 1.85 million cubic metres of firewood (1m³ equals approximately one car trailer load) was used in Victoria annually, with half being consumed in Melbourne . This amount

6344-433: The basis of the rich soils known as Terra preta . The environmental impact of burning wood fuel is debatable. Several cities have moved towards setting standards of use and/or bans of wood burning fireplaces. For example, the city of Montréal, Québec passed a resolution to ban wood fireplace installation in new construction. Wood burning advocates claim that properly harvested wood is carbon-neutral, therefore off-setting

SECTION 60

#1732781059243

6448-461: The centuries there was a partial deforestation of climax forests and the evolution of the remainder to coppice with standards woodland as the primary source of wood fuel. These woodlands involved a continuous cycle of new stems harvested from old stumps, on rotations between seven and thirty years. One of the earliest printed books on woodland management, in English, was John Evelyn 's "Sylva, or

6552-581: The coal mining jobs as part of a just transition ; however, renewable energy was not suitable in some of the geographies with high concentrations of miners, such as in China, which is far and away the leading coal-mining nation. Coal refuse (also described as coal waste, rock, slag, coal tailings, waste material, rock bank, culm, boney, or gob ) is the material left over from coal mining, usually as tailings piles or spoil tips . For every tonne of hard coal generated by mining, 400 kg (880 lb) of waste material remains, which includes some lost coal that

6656-497: The coal preparation (or wash) plant. Once this strip is empty of coal, the process is repeated with a new strip being created next to it. This method is most suitable for areas with flat terrain. Equipment to be used depends on geological conditions. For example, to remove overburden that is loose or unconsolidated, a bucket wheel excavator might be the most productive. The life of some area mines may be more than 50 years. The contour mining method consists of removing overburden from

6760-863: The coal resource may cause burial and loss of topsoil, exposes parent material, and creates large infertile wastelands. Soil disturbance and associated compaction result in conditions conducive to erosion. Soil removal from the area to be surface-mined alters or destroys many natural soil characteristics, and reduces its biodiversity and productivity for agriculture. Soil structure may be disturbed by pulverization or aggregate breakdown. Top 10 hard and brown coal producers in 2012 were (in million metric tons): China 3,621, United States 922, India 629, Australia 432, Indonesia 410, Russia 351, South Africa 261, Germany 196, Poland 144, and Kazakhstan 122. Coal has been mined in every state of Australia, but mainly in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. It

6864-421: The collection area. The concerns are often specific to the particular area, but can include all the problems that regular logging create. The heavy removal of wood from forests can cause habitat destruction and soil erosion . However, in many countries, for example in Europe and Canada, the forest residues are being collected and turned into useful wood fuels with minimal impact on the environment. Consideration

6968-471: The consumption rate is controlled to sustainable levels. The shortage of suitable firewood in some places has seen local populations damaging huge tracts of bush possibly leading to further desertification . Wood burning creates more atmospheric CO 2 than biodegradation of wood in a forest (in a given period) because by the time the bark of a dead tree has rotted, the log has already been occupied by other plants and micro-organisms which continue to sequester

7072-497: The course of several years' use. The Franklin stove was developed in the United States by Benjamin Franklin . More a manufactured fireplace than a stove, it had an open front and a heat exchanger in the back that was designed to draw air from the cellar and heat it before releasing it out the sides. The heat exchanger was never a popular feature and was omitted in later versions. So-called "Franklin" stoves today are made in

7176-470: The day. Airtight stoves became common in the 19th century. Use of wood heat declined in popularity with the growing availability of other, less labor-intensive fuels. Wood heat was gradually replaced by coal and later by fuel oil , natural gas and propane heating except in rural areas with available forests. After the 1967 Oil Embargo , many people in the United States used wood as fuel for

7280-429: The developed world. Modern coal mining in the US has an average 23 deaths per year due to mine accidents (2001–2020). However, in lesser developed countries and some developing countries, many miners continue to die annually, either through direct accidents in coal mines or through adverse health consequences from working under poor conditions. China , in particular, has the highest number of coal mining related deaths in

7384-455: The disruptive activities of blasting, ripping, and excavating coal. Stripping of overburden eliminates and destroys archeological and historic features, unless they are removed beforehand. The removal of vegetative cover and activities associated with the construction of haul roads, stockpiling of topsoil, displacement of overburden and hauling of soil and coal increase the quantity of dust around mining operations. Dust degrades air quality in

7488-542: The end of 2014. In 2013, the main pellet consumers in Europe were the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Belgium, as U.E.'s annual report on biofuels states. In Denmark and Sweden, pellets are used by power plants, households and medium scale consumers for district heating, compared to Austria and Italy, where pellets are mainly used as small - scale private residential and industrial boilers for heating. The UK

7592-571: The fatalities occurring in the first half of the 20th century. 3,242 died in 1907, the worst year ever; in 2020 there were five. Open cut hazards are principally mine wall failures and vehicle collisions; underground mining hazards include suffocation, gas poisoning, roof collapse, rock burst , outbursts , and gas explosions. Firedamp explosions can trigger the far more dangerous coal dust explosions, which can engulf an entire mine. Most of these risks are greatly reduced in modern mines, and multiple fatality incidents are now rare in most parts of

7696-414: The fire on all sides and provided a means for controlling the draft—the amount of air allowed to reach the fire. Stoves have been made of a variety of materials. Cast iron is among the more common. Soapstone ( talc ), tile , and steel have all been used. Metal stoves are often lined with refractory materials such as firebrick , since the hottest part of a woodburning fire will burn away steel over

7800-476: The firebox, which acts to cool the fire and leads to incomplete combustion. Outdoor wood boilers also typically have short stack heights in comparison to other wood-burning appliances, contributing to ambient levels of particulates at ground level. An increasingly popular alternative is the wood gasification boiler, which burns wood at very high efficiencies (85-91%) and can be placed indoors or in an outbuilding. There are numerous ways to process wood fuel, and wood

7904-431: The first time. The EPA provided information on clean stoves, which burned much more efficiently. A brief resurgence in popularity occurred during and after the 1973 energy crisis , when some believed that fossil fuels would become so expensive as to preclude their use. A period of innovation followed, with many small manufacturers producing stoves based on designs old and new. Notable innovations from that era include

8008-457: The genetic soil profile, displaces or destroys wildlife and habitat, alters current land uses, and to some extent permanently changes the general topography of the area mined. Adverse impacts on geological features of human interest may occur in a coal strip mine. Geomorphic and geophysical features and outstanding scenic resources may be sacrificed by indiscriminate mining. Paleontological, cultural, and other historic values may be endangered due to

8112-450: The immediate area, has an adverse impact on vegetative life, and constitutes health and safety hazards for mine workers and nearby residents. Surface mining disrupts virtually all aesthetic elements of the landscape. Alteration of land forms often imposes unfamiliar and discontinuous configurations. New linear patterns appear as material is extracted and waste piles are developed. Different colors and textures are exposed as vegetative cover

8216-552: The main source of primary energy for industry and transportation in industrial areas from the 18th century to the 1950s. Coal remains an important energy source. Coal is also mined today on a large scale by open pit methods wherever the coal strata strike the surface or are relatively shallow. Britain developed the main techniques of underground coal mining from the late 18th century onward, with further progress being driven by 19th-century and early 20th-century progress. However, oil and gas were increasingly used as alternatives from

8320-404: The majority of fatalities. Coal mining resulted in 47 fatalities that year. One study, though, has suggested that hazards of modern mining are now more accretive with workers facing long-term health impacts, such as sleep deprivation, that build up over time. Strip mining severely alters the landscape, which reduces the value of the natural environment in the surrounding land. The land surface

8424-461: The method of extraction. For example, a study has found that among surface coal mine operations, dragline equipment produced the loudest sound at a range of 88–112 dBA. Within longwall sections, stageloaders used to transport coal from the mining face and shearers used for extraction represent some of the highest noise exposures. Auxiliary fans (up to 120 dBA), continuous mining machines (up to 109 dBA), and roof bolters (up to 103 dBA) represent some of

8528-465: The mining workforce. in 2015 US coal mines had 65,971 employees, the lowest figure since EIA began collecting data in 1978. However, a 2016 study reported that a relatively minor investment would allow most coal workers to retrain for the solar energy industry. Coal mining has been a very dangerous activity and the list of historical coal mining disasters is long. In the U.S., 104,895 coal miners were killed in mine accidents since 1900, 90 percent of

8632-488: The negative impact of by-product particles given off during the burning process. In the context of forest wildfires, wood removed from the forest setting for use as wood fuel can reduce overall emissions by decreasing the quantity of open burned wood and the severity of the burn while combusting the remaining material under regulated conditions. On March 7, 2018, the United States House of Representatives passed

8736-469: The noisiest equipment within continuous mining sections. Exposures to noise exceeding 90 dBA can lead to adverse effects on workers' hearing. The use of administrative controls and engineering controls can be used to reduce noise exposures. Improvements in mining methods (e.g. longwall mining), hazardous gas monitoring (such as safety-lamps or more modern electronic gas monitors), gas drainage, electrical equipment , and ventilation have reduced many of

8840-590: The open pit methods, due to thickness of the seam 20–25 metres (60–90 feet). Coals occurring below 90 m (300 ft) are usually deep mined. However, there are open pit mining operations working on coal seams up to 300–460 metres (1,000–1,500 feet) below ground level, for instance Tagebau Hambach in Germany. When coal seams are near the surface, it may be economical to extract the coal using open-cut , also referred to as open-cast, open-pit, mountaintop removal or strip, mining methods. Opencast coal mining recovers

8944-421: The operation reaches a predetermined stripping ratio (tons of overburden/tons of coal), it is not profitable to continue. Depending on the equipment available, it may not be technically feasible to exceed a certain height of highwall. At this point, it is possible to produce more coal with the augering method in which spiral drills bore tunnels into a highwall laterally from the bench to extract coal without removing

9048-408: The overburden. Mountaintop coal mining is a surface mining practice involving removal of mountaintops to expose coal seams, and disposing of associated mining overburden in adjacent "valley fills." Valley fills occur in steep terrain where there are limited disposal alternatives. Mountaintop removal mining combines area and contour strip mining methods. In areas with rolling or steep terrain with

9152-425: The potential to spontaneously ignite. Because most coal refuse harbors toxic components, it is not easily reclaimed by replanting with plants like beach grasses. The use of sophisticated sensing equipment to monitor air quality is common and has replaced the use of small animals such as canaries, often referred to as " miner's canaries ". In the United States, the increase in technology has significantly decreased

9256-535: The production of heat from wood chips that would otherwise be made into particleboard, showed that only 239 kg (527 lb) of CO 2 per MWh was released. Therefore, the relative greenhouse effects of biomass energy production are dependent on the usage model. The intentional and controlled charring of wood and its incorporation into the soil is an effective method for carbon sequestration as well as an important technique to improve soil conditions for agriculture, particularly in heavily forested regions. It forms

9360-856: The relative output of CO 2 to produce electricity or domestic heating, the United Kingdom Department of Energy and Climate Change ( DECC ) has published a comprehensive model comparing the burning of wood (wood chip) and other fuels, based on 33 scenarios. The model's output is kilogram of CO 2 produced per megawatt-hour (MWh) of delivered energy. Scenario 33 for example, which concerns the production of heat from wood chips produced from UK small roundwood produced from bringing neglected broadleaf forests back into production, shows that burning oil releases 377 kg (831 lb) of CO 2 while burning woodchips releases 1,501 kg (3,309 lb) of CO 2 per MWh of delivered energy. However, in scenario 32 of that same reference, which concerns

9464-399: The risks of rock falls, explosions, and unhealthy air quality. Gases released during the mining process can be recovered to generate electricity and improve worker safety with gas engines . Another innovation in recent years is the use of closed circuit escape respirators , respirators that contain oxygen for situations where mine ventilation is compromised. Statistical analyses performed by

9568-692: The same state, the volume of a face cord may be considerably different. Hence, it is risky to buy wood sold in this manner, as the transaction is not based on a legally enforceable unit of measure. In Australia, firewood is normally sold by the tonne , but is commonly advertised as sold by the barrowload (wheelbarrow), bucket ( 1 ⁄ 3 of a 1 m bucket of a typical skid-steer ), ute -load or bag (roughly 15–20 kg). A common hardwood, red oak, has an energy content ( heat value ) of 14.9 mega joules per kilogram (6,388 BTU per pound), and 10.4 mega joules recoverable if burned at 70% efficiency. The Sustainable Energy Development Office (SEDO), part of

9672-565: The seam in a pattern following the contours along a ridge or around the hillside. This method is most commonly used in areas with rolling to steep terrain. It was once common to deposit the spoil on the downslope side of the bench thus created, but this method of spoil disposal consumed much additional land and created severe landslide and erosion problems. To alleviate these problems, a variety of methods were devised to use freshly cut overburden to refill mined-out areas. These haul-back or lateral movement methods generally consist of an initial cut with

9776-432: The spoil deposited downslope or at some other site and spoil from the second cut refilling the first. A ridge of undisturbed natural material 15 to 20 ft (5 to 6 m) wide is often intentionally left at the outer edge of the mined area. This barrier adds stability to the reclaimed slope by preventing spoil from slumping or sliding downhill. The limitations of contour strip mining are both economic and technical. When

9880-524: The stoves and thus they were popular for over one hundred years. The action of the fire, combined with the causticity of the ash, ensured that the stove would eventually disintegrate or crack over time. Thus a steady supply of stoves was needed. The maintenance of stoves, needing to be blacked, their smokiness, and the need to split wood meant that oil or electric heat found favour. The airtight stove , originally made of steel, allowed greater control of combustion, being more tightly fitted than other stoves of

9984-476: The surface or overburden, of the mining area. The overburden is then removed by draglines or by shovel and truck. Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured and thoroughly mined in strips. The coal is then loaded onto large trucks or conveyors for transport to either the coal preparation plant or directly to where it will be used. Most open cast mines in the United States extract bituminous coal . In Canada, Australia, and South Africa, open cast mining

10088-600: The surface. Ten years later the colliery was owned by the Blackrod Colliery Company and the pit employed 50 underground and 22 surface workers mining the Bone, Wigan Six Feet and New coal seams. The colliery was nationalised in 1947 becoming part of the National Coal Board and was redeveloped employing 411 men in 1958 before finally closing in 1965. The colliery was served by a branch line of

10192-649: The temperature of the smoke is hot enough to burn itself (e.g. 609 °C (1,128 °F) for igniting carbon monoxide gas). This may significantly reduce smoke hazards while also providing additional heat from the process. By using a catalytic converter , the temperature for obtaining cleaner smoke can be reduced. Some U.S. jurisdictions prohibit sale or installation of stoves that do not incorporate catalytic converters. Depending on population density, topography, climatic conditions and combustion equipment used, wood heating may substantially contribute to air pollution , particularly particulates . The conditions in which wood

10296-524: The two basic methods of mining. The choice of mining method depends primarily on depth, density, overburden, and thickness of the coal seam; seams relatively close to the surface, at depths less than approximately 55 m (180 ft), are usually surface mined. Coal that occurs at depths of 55 to 90 m (180 to 300 ft) are usually deep mined, but in some cases surface mining techniques can be used. For example, some western U.S. coal that occur at depths in excess of 60 m (200 ft) are mined by

10400-452: The use of draglines , trucks, conveyors , hydraulic jacks , and shearers. The coal mining industry has a long history of significant negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems, health impacts on local communities and workers, and contributes heavily to the global environmental crises, such as poor air quality and climate change . For these reasons, coal has been one of the first fossil fuels to be phased out of various parts of

10504-413: The woodland craftsmen were converted to charcoal . As with most of Europe, these managed woodlands continued to supply their markets right up to the end of World War Two. Since then much of these woodlands have been converted to broadscale agriculture. Total demand for fuel increased considerably with the Industrial Revolution but most of this increased demand was met by the new fuel source coal , which

10608-441: The world, with official statistics claiming that 6,027 deaths occurred in 2004. To compare, 28 deaths were reported in the U.S. in the same year. Coal production in China is twice that in the US, while the number of coal miners is around 50 times that of the US, making deaths in coal mines in China 4 times as common per worker (108 times as common per unit output) as in the US. Mine disasters have still occurred in recent years in

10712-531: Was mined, and 375.1 million tonnes was exported. In 2013/14, coal provided about 69% of Australia's electricity production. In 2013, Australia was the world's fifth-largest coal producer, after China, the United States, India, and Indonesia. However, in terms of proportion of production exported, Australia is the world's second largest coal exporter, as it exports roughly 73% of its coal production. Indonesia exports about 87% of its coal production. A court in Australia has cited climate change in ruling against

10816-451: Was more compact and more suited to the larger scale of the new industries. During the Edo period of Japan, wood was used for many purposes, and the consumption of wood led Japan to develop a forest management policy during that era. Demand for timber resources was on the rise not only for fuel, but also for construction of ships and buildings, and consequently deforestation was widespread. As

#242757