One of our most abundantenergy resources is coal. Coal is afossil fuel thatis composed of large amounts of carbon with hydrogen, oxygen andsmaller amounts of sulfur and nitrogen.

Coal, a black, solidsubstance, is formed from decaying plant matter that has beenpressed together for millions of years.It is possible to findcoal on any one of the Earth's continents, as well as in the ocean.

No one really knowswhen or where people discovered that coal can be burned in orderto provide heat. However, it is known that the chinese were thefirst to develop a coal industry around the 300's A.d. They usedcoal to heat buildings and smelt metals .

In the United States,over 1 billion tons of coal are used per year.Most of this isused to generate electricity. However, in many developing countries,the population depends on coal to generate heat.

Although coal hasbeen a popular energy resource in the past as well as the present,there are many disadvantages to its use.To begin with, removingcoal from the ground can prove to be a quite dangerous under taking.Coal miners face the danger of mine explosions and my be subjectto illnesses brought on by there work environment.An accumulationof methane-a highly flamable compound-is one cause of mine explosions.The "black lung" condition, caused by the breathingin of coal dust, interferes with a person's breathing and maycause death.There is also an accumulation of carbon monoxide incoal mines which is poisonous to braethe in.Added to the dangerof chemicals and dust, the use of machines to mine coal can bevery dangerous in the cramped, dimly lit space of a mine.

Besides the damageto the physical body associated with the extraction of coal fromthe ground, the environment is also harmed through the burningof coal for energy.When natural fuels are burned, only part oftheir energy is used. The rest return to the atmosphere as heatand its by products enter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons,sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and solid particles.Thiscauses the disruption of the carbon cycle (the "greenhouseeffect")andthe nitrogen oxides cause acid rain.

Because the burning of coal devastatesthe environment, it is imporotant that an alternative energy sourcebe found.

Solar power is, by far, the best solutionto the problems that the burning of coal and other fossil fuelscause.In fact, solar power can be used as a substitute for electricalenergy in almost any case.Today, solar power is being used toprovide hot water for homes and industries and to provide heatingfor residential areas.