The Role of Technologies in Sustainability of Coal Industry - Essay Example

Coal is a black or brown flammable sedimentary rock that is a fossil fuel and is mostly comprise of organic carbon. There two types of coal, thermal and metallurgical. The thermal one is mostly used for generating of power while the other one is utilized in the production of steel. Both types of coal are formed from the decomposition of vegetation compressed underneath layers of sandy soil, sediments and even rocks at temperature that are high over a long period of time that runs into many centuries. The technology of producing energy from coal starts from pulverization of the thermal coal into powder and burning it to produce heat that is used to turn water into steam. The steam is channeled at high temperatures to turn turbines that are connected to the electrical generator. The turbines make large magnets to run within the coils of copper wires and the movements of these magnets effect moving of electrons from one place to another thus resulting in electrical current and ultimately producing electricity.

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The coal industry in the Central Appalachian area has been on the decline from the 1990`s. For instance between the year 2000 and 2015, the production of coal declined by 45 percent in Eastern Kentucky while in West Virginia it dropped by 80%. According to the report by the West Virginia University on the business or economic projects, the projection is that the production will fall to below 67.1 million short tons by 2036 compared to the 167.8 million tons that was produced in 2008. The problem has become worse because the coal from the Appalachia faces rivalry from the one from the west, Wyoming Powder Basin to be precise that is cheaper and has lower sulfur content. The mineral deposits from the Central Appalachia also appear to be diminishing, as majority of the thick seams that are easy to mine appear to be vanishing. The downturn in the industry is also caused by the fact that the country is moving towards sources of energy such as solar power, wind and natural gas. In fact, in terms of burning, natural gas produces less carbon emissions in the production of electricity. These alternative sources of electricity are also cheaper compared to the coal-produced one. The introduction of a number of environmental regulations that has made the cost of production in the industry increase when compared to other related industries.

The coal exports to other countries have also been on the decline especially to the Asian countries like China. However, this decline is specifically relevant to the Appalachia region as it exports more of its coal than the other parts of the US. For instance according to estimates, Wyoming which is the current largest coal producer state exported about one percent of its coal production to the international markets compare to West Virginia that is the second largest in the exploration but exported twenty seven percent of its production. On the other hand out of Kentucky`s total production, 7% of its coal ends up in the outside markets. The implication of this is that West Virginia and Kentucky are more dependent on the global market trends thus are more affected by the volatilities associated with it.

The trends in energy generation and analysis coal- fired power plants also bring more understanding into the industry. Most of the coal consumed domestically in the US is for the generating electrical power from the plants in the form of steam while the rest is used in industrial production. However the declines in the prices of natural gas over the last few years has led to an increase on its preference as a source of energy and conversely leading to a decrease in the use of coal to generate the power. Renewable energy is also on the upsurge especially through solar and wind although the levels of uptake are still modest in comparison with the other sources. For example, the energy generated from coal fell from under 1.5 billion megawatt (MW) hours in 2008 to under 1.2 billion MW hours in 2015. In terms of percentages, the coal generation fell from 52% in 2000 to 39% 2013 and the decrease is expected to continue in the future.

Artificial intelligence as an emerging technology that is exhibited by intelligent agents that are devices that are able to analyze the environment they are in and do something about it to achieve some goal. The idea of these objects that are inanimate coming into existence as intelligent persons has been there over many years as the Greeks in the ancient years had stories about robots, while engineers from China and Egypt built automatons. In fact thethe beginning of what modern artificial intelligence is traceable from the works of the classical philosophers who attempted to describe human thinking as a system that is symbolic. The field however made formal in 1956 at the Dartmouth College conference in New Hampshire where the word artificial intelligence was coined. It did not pick up until around 1980s because of dropping interest in the technology as well as low government support. The area got revival in these years as the governments started chipping in to compete with Japan which was adopting the technology fast. By the late 1990s, the technology was being used in fields such as logistics, medical diagnosis and even in mining. The successful use in these fields was as a result of increase in the computational power, formation of ties between AI and other sectors , the emphasis on how to use it to solve problems and the fact that researchers were committed to the scientific and mathematical techniques standards. The culmination of the success was when deep blue, a computer system for playing chess beating a world champion in the game in 1997.

Artificial intelligence is currently in use in many areas in the increasingly digitalized world of today. It can serve virtual personnel to assist in finding what one wants through the likes of Google and Siri in their platforms of operating systems. Other areas of applications where the artificial intelligence is being applied is in video games, smart cars, purchase prediction in businesses, detection of fraud, online customer support, security surveillance, smart home devices and movies and music recommendation.

The key to the sustainability of the sector is carrying out extensive research on how to better the technologies developed in the artificial intelligence. Sponsoring scholars to undertake studies on how to use the ideas in a way that does not erode the human touch as well as maintaining safety to the users is key to the future of the field. The governments and the world in general should also come up with frameworks to ensure that the advancements in the technology do not pose danger to people around the world. There should also be mechanisms to monitor the use of these technologies do not land in the wrong hands.

By coming up with a framework, the country will be able to keep track on the use of the of the technology thus ensuring it promotes sustainable development. The government will also be able to keep the country safe, as some of these technologies can be misused to cause crimes. However, the increasing advancements continue to pause new challenges as the technologies become more complex thus the increasing the need for continuous reviews.

References

(2017). Retrieved 16 March 2017, from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/968825_Soltau_Automation%20and%20artificial%20intelligence%20-

Forbes Welcome. (2017). Forbes.com. Retrieved 16 March 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/01/10/10-powerful-examples-of-artificial-intelligence-in-use-today/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/

Polycarpou, L. (2017). Beyond Coal: Economic Alternatives for Kentucky. Blogs.ei.columbia.edu. Retrieved 16 March 2017, from http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2014/06/06/beyond-coal-capstone-project-studies-economic-alternatives-for-appalachian-kentuc

Sustainable coal. (2016). Chemistry & Industry, 80(1), 31-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cind.801_13.x

U.S. Coal Industry Continues To Get Pummeled. (2017). Fortune.com. Retrieved 16 March 2017, from http://fortune.com/2016/01/15/decline-us-coal-industry/