I picked the topic of coal because the issue of removal of coal mining hits close to home. 85% of my family members are employed by coal in some way.

1. Teammates – Not Rivals Coalvs.Solar Tessa Pigg CIS 100 01Z1 May 2, 2010

2. For millions of years, a layer of dead plants at the bottom of the swamps was covered by layers of water and dirt, trapping the energy of the dead plants. The heat and pressure from the top layers helped the plant remains turn into what we today call coal.

3. Where does coal come from? Coal takes millions of years for the earth to create. It is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock composed mostly of carbon and hydrocarbons. It is the most abundant fossil fuel produced in the United States

5. There was 50 tons of coal dug

6. In its past life, coal had a variety of uses:

7. Gas for Gas lights

8. Domestic heating

9. Fuel for steam engines

10. In its early days, coal was mostly mined near cities

13. Surface mining – above ground

14. Underground mining – below ground

15. Production about 1 billion tonsToday's Coal

17. Coal & Employment Coal is the main source of our energy needs in the United States so of course, it employees a lot of people. Coal mines alone employee over 82,000 people. Coal-fired plants employee over 60,000 people Coal Transportation including train, car, and barge employees over 30,000 people

19. Coal is as clean as it possibly can be today by what is called “Clean Coal Technologies”.

21. Downfall of solar energy Solar is definitely a cleaner source for our environment but it has some drawbacks to it. Reliability: The amount of sunlight that reaches the earth is not received in constant amounts. It is determined by location, time of day, time of year and the weather. Surface Area: Since the amount of sunlight available isn't constant, the amount of surface area needed to collect the energy is very large.

22. My Coal & Solar Theory My theory about coal and solar working as one is very simple and would benefit several people. We live our life with different types of everything, for example cars, homes, jobs, and personalities, so why would everyone have to use the same type of energy. I do understand that coal is dirty but it is the most reliable source of the two. My theory is that we should be able to pick our source of energy and if we run out of coal, sure we can use all solar but I do not feel that we should eliminate one or the other.

23. Special Thanks To: And several other coal mining support groups for keeping my lights on.

24. Sources: http://www.bydesign.com/fossilfuels/links/html/coal/coal_history.html http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coal_and_jobs_in_the_United_States#Coal-fired_power_plant_jobs http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=coal_home-basics http://science.howstuffworks.com/clean-coal.htm Images: Google Search Results