In the Past...
One hundred years ago much of the industrial world was almost entirely dependent on coal. Since then coal's share of the primary energy market has declined for essentially two reasons:
First, oil became more widely available, and natural gas, nuclear energy and, more recently, new non-fossil energy technologies have emerged to claim a share of the energy market.
Second, the nature of the energy market itself changed, largely through the growth of personal transport and widespread electrification.
But coal is not a fuel of the past. While its overall share of the energy mix may have fallen, the overall global demand for coal has continued to increase.
Today...
The world today has a more diversified energy economy with each primary energy source being used where it is most suited.
Today, coal contributes about 27 per cent of global primary energy demand, second only to oil (34 per cent), and is used to produce 42 per cent of the world's electricity.
Coal is also the key requirement for two other building blocks of modern society - the production of steel and cement. In 2008 around 814 million tonnes of coking coal (14 per cent of total global hard coal consumption) was used to produce nearly 70 per cent of the steel in the world.The remainder was produced by recycling scrap steel (itself originally produced directly using coal) using electricity - often generated using affordable and reliable steam coal.
Location of the World's Main Fossil Fuel Reserves (Gigatons of coal equivalent)
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Source: Optima, Vol.1 No.1, Feb. 2005; as published in ECOAL Newsletter July 2005, World Coal Institute
Coal reserves are also significantly more abundant and much more widely and evenly dispersed than other fossil fuels. Oil and gas reserves are more tightly concentrated in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union (see world map below). Coal is therefore well positioned to make a valuable contribution to global security.
- Rapid world population growth and economic development, particularly in developing countries, are resulting in phenomenal growth in world energy demand. If we are to meet the aspirations of many of the world's people, 1.5 billion of whom currently have no access to electricity, coal will have to play a major role in meeting this demand for at least the foreseeable future.
At a Glance...
27% of primary energy needs worldwide were met by coal in 2007. (25% in 1973.)
42% of global electricity was generated from coal in 2007. (38% in 1973). Poland, South Africa, Australia and China all rely on coal to produce over three-quarters of their electricity, India over 60%, and the USA and Germany more than half.
Almost 70% of global steel production depends on coal feedstock, with around 814 Mt of coking coal being being consumed globally in 2008. Further quantities of coal provided much of the electricity used to power electric arc furnaces to produce the balance of global steel production.
Global hard coal production has more than doubled in the past 30 years or so - from 2,800 Mt in 1980 to 5,845 Mt in 2008.
Major hard coal producers include China 2,761 Mt, USA 1,007 Mt, India 489 Mt, Australia 325 Mt, Russia 247 Mt, Indonesia 246,and South Africa 236 Mt. (2008)
Brown coal/lignite production totalled 951 Mt in 2008, with Germany (175 Mt), Russia (76 Mt), Turkey (73 Mt), Australia (72 Mt), USA (69 Mt), Greece (66 Mt) and Poland (60 Mt) being the leading producers and consumers.
Sources: IEA Key World Energy Statistics 2009; Coal and Steel - World Coal Institute 2007; IEA Coal Information 2009.