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Author Topic: Wattage from burning a ton of coal  (Read 1781 times)

sark

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Wattage from burning a ton of coal
« on: May 22, 2017, 03:50:14 AM »
the math on this calculation is just beyond me but the question burns in my mind.   burning a ton of coal can produce 2000-2500 kWh of electricity.  same burn produces 2.86 tons of co2... what is the wattage of greenhouse effect for that quantity of atmospheric co2 in 25 years, 100 years, etc?

even an approximate figure would salve my burning question...

jai mitchell

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Re: Wattage from burning a ton of coal
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2017, 04:56:46 PM »
a good thumbrule is that the amount of energy generated by combustion to produce a single molecule of CO2 is about 1/10,000th the amount of total accumulated energy produced over the life of that molecule in the earth's atmosphere until it is removed.

but that doesn't include the thermal efficiency of power generation which, depending on the method of combustion/generation can be as high as 40% and as low as 10%.
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