GC: n

CT: The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. All living plants store solar energy through a process known as photosynthesis. When plants die, this energy is usually released as the plants decay. Under conditions favourable to coal formation, the decaying process is interrupted, preventing the release of the stored solar energy. The energy is locked into the coal.

S: WCA – http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/what-is-coal/”>http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/what-is-coal/ (last access: 16th December 2014).

N: 1. coal (n): Old English col “charcoal, live coal,” from Proto-Germanic *kula(n) (cognates: Old Frisian kole, Middle Dutch cole, Dutch kool, Old High German chol, German Kohle, Old Norse kol), from PIE root g(e)u-lo- “live coal” (cognates: Irish gual “coal”). Meaning “mineral consisting of fossilized carbon” is from mid-13c. First mentioned (370 B.C.E.) by Theophrastus in his treatise “On Stones” under the name lithos anthrakos. Traditionally good luck coal was given as a New Year’s gift in England, said to guarantee a warm hearth for the coming year.
2. Coal is a combustible, sedimentary, organic rock, which is composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen.
3. It is formed from vegetation that has been consolidated between other rock strata and altered by the combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years to form coal seams.
4. Not only does coal provide electricity, it is also an essential fuel for steel and cement production, and other industrial activities.

S: OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=coal&searchmode=none (last access: 16th December 2014). 2, 3 & 4. WCA – http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/ (last access: 16th December 2014).

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S:

CR: anthracite, bituminous coal, blue hydrogen, carbon , carbon monoxide, coke,  coking-plant, lignite , mineral coal, natural gas, peat, petroleum, soft brown coal.