Environmental Safe Use of Coal in the Energy Mix in Nigeria

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Environmental Sciences, grade: B, University of Ibadan (Centre for Petroleum Energy Economics and Law), course: Environmental Law and Policy I, language: English, abstract: Access to energy in the form of electricity undoubtedly plays an important role in nation's growth, economic development, healthcare delivery, addressing energy poverty, supporting urbanization, delivering competitive energy to developing and developed countries alike and generally human well-being. There are different sources of electricity; and generation of electricity from them equally affect human well- being and the environment. Some of the notable sources of electricity or energy are: solar, fossil fuels, biogas, solid biomass, nuclear, hydropower. This work attempts to examine the environmental safety of coal use vis-a -vis power provision in Nigeria. Coal is a fossil fuel formed from decomposition of organic materials subjected to geological heat and pressure for millions of years. It is considered a non- renewable energy source because it cannot be replenished within human time frame. Coal is a combustible black or brownish - black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or vein called coal beds or coal steams. The United States Energy Information Administration highlighting the importance and cheaper cost of coal in energy mix states that global consumption is likely to increase by 48%from 6 .7 million metric tons to an estimated 9. 98 billion short tons by 2030. Coal as an energy source contributes about 30% of the United States of America electricity generation, 93% of South Africa electricity generation, and 79% of the People's Republic of China electricity generation. Going by this statistics and the fact that coal is cheap source for electricity generation, it is safe to assert that Nigeria has the potentials to produce cheaper electricity to solve its dearth of electricity generation and supply using coal. [...]