煤炭经济coal economics(2003)

经济学

在加拿大，煤炭意味着商机

加拿大的煤炭工业就像一个看不见的巨人:它是巨大的，但我们甚至没有注意到它。事实上，加拿大的煤矿开采规模很大。煤炭是加拿大对日本最有价值的出口商品。它由世界上最大的陆地机械开采，并由世界上最大的卡车运输。长达125节车厢的运煤列车每趟可以运送超过1.3万吨的煤炭。阿尔伯塔省、萨斯喀彻温省和新斯科舍省的大部分电力都来自煤炭，该行业在全国各地创造了就业机会，每年直接为加拿大经济带来50亿美元的财富。能源、钢铁等等一个具有许多有用功能的资源煤在全世界的主要用途是发电。煤在发电厂燃烧，在巨大的锅炉里产生蒸汽*。蒸汽驱动涡轮，涡轮又反过来产生电力。煤炭的第二大用途是炼钢。冶金煤或炼焦煤通过将煤加热到700摄氏度转化成焦炭*。这些极端的温度将气体分离出来，并将煤净化成多孔的、岩石状的焦炭，用于炼钢过程。煤也是加热和工业过程(如水泥制造、纸浆和造纸)的重要能源。新技术使煤可以加工成液体燃料，如汽油和柴油燃料，并成为化学工业的原料。直到最近，从原油和天然气等石油产品中生产这些燃料和原料的成本更低。然而，随着石油储量的减少，原油和天然气价格可能会上涨。煤炭可能成为经济上可行的替代能源。一个丰富的历史拥有更加丰富的未来煤炭已经存在了很长时间，人们很容易认为它是理所当然的。毕竟，4000年前，威尔士的早期居民在他们的篝火中燃烧煤炭，而中国人在公元前100年*使用煤炭。公元前300年，希腊哲学家泰奥弗拉斯特斯(Theophrastus)描述了铁匠如何烧一种黑色物质，这种物质与来自木头的木炭截然不同。在北美，美国西南部的普韦布洛印第安人在13世纪用煤来烧制他们的陶罐和器皿。大约在同一时期，欧洲部分地区开始开采煤炭，尽管木材是首选燃料。直到17世纪，欧洲的森林被砍伐殆尽，这种情况才有所改观。英国率先改用煤炭。在18世纪和19世纪，这个小岛国生产了全世界80%的煤炭。由于煤是热能和能源的首选燃料，煤的使用量显著增加。这种增长在1709年得到了巨大的推动，当时工业学会了如何用焦炭炼钢。这种新的炼钢工艺推动了工业革命。1711年，英国康沃尔的一台燃煤蒸汽机证明了，机器动力比人力的生产力要高得多。这个小引擎成为了更大的煤驱动蒸汽机的原型，这确实给工业带来了革命性的变化。工厂如雨后春笋般出现，铁路遍布大地，燃煤轮船很快统治了海洋。这种工业增长产生了对钢铁的巨大需求。到1877年，炼钢技术的进步使焦炭成为炼钢过程中的重要组成部分，这种作用一直延续至今。

ECONOMICS

COAL MEANS BUSINESS IN CANADA 

Canada’s coal industry is like an invisible giant: it’s huge, but we don’t even notice it. The fact is, coal mining exists in Canada on a massive scale. Coal is Canada’s single-most valuable export to Japan. It’s mined by the world’s largest land machines and hauled in some of the biggest trucks in the world. Coal trains of up to 125 cars in length can handle over 13,000 tonnes of coal per trip. The majority of the electricity in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia is generated from coal and the industry creates jobs across the country, directly enriching Canada’s economy by $5 billion every year.

ENERGY, STEEL AND MORE

ONE RESOURCE WITH MANY USEFUL FUNCTIONS

Coal’s major use worldwide is for the generation of electricity. Coal is burned in power plants to produce steam in huge boilers*. The steam drives turbines that in turn generate electric power.
Coal’s second-largest use is for the manufacture of steel. Metallurgical or coking coal is converted into coke* by heating the coal to 700 C. These extreme temperatures separate out the gases and purify the coal into the porous, rocklike coke that is used in the steelmaking process.
Coal is also an important source of energy for heating and industrial processes such as cement making and pulp and paper manufacturing. New technologies enable coal to be processed into liquid fuels—like gasoline and diesel fuel—and into feedstock* for chemical industries. Until recently, it had been more cost-efficient to produce these fuels and feedstock from petroleum products like crude oil and natural gas. However, as petroleum reserves shrink, crude oil and natural gas prices will likely increase. Coal may become the economically viable alternative. 

A RICH HISTORY

WITH AN EVEN RICHER FUTURE

 Coal has been around for so long, it’s easy to take it for granted.  After all, the early inhabitants of Wales burned coal in their campfires 4,000 years ago and the Chinese were using coal in 100 BCE*.
In 300 BCE, the Greek philosopher Theophrastus described how blacksmiths burned a black substance that was quite different from the charcoal that came from wood. Here in North America, the Pueblo Indians in the southwest United States used coal in the 1200s to fire their ceramic pots and utensils.
Around the same time, coal was being mined in parts of Europe, although wood was the preferred fuel. So it remained until European forests were depleted in the 1600s.

The switch to coal was led by Britain. During the 1700s and 1800s, this small island nation produced 80 per cent of the world’s coal. Because it was the fuel of choice for heat and energy, coal use expanded significantly. This growth was given a huge boost in 1709 when industry learned how to use coke to make steel. This new steelmaking process helped drive the Industrial Revolution.

In 1711, a coal-fired steam engine in Cornwall, England, proved that machine power was much more productive than human power. That small engine became the prototype for larger coaldriven steam engines that literally revolutionized industry. Factories sprang up, railways spread across the land and coal-fired steamships soon dominated the seas.
This industrial growth created a huge demand for steel. By1877, advances in steelmaking technologies made coke an essential component of the process, a role that it has maintained to this day.