Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
is one of the largest sources of
energy in Russia
Energy consumption across Russia in 2020 was 7,863 TWh. Russia is a leading global exporter of oil and natural gas and is the fourth highest greenhouse emitter in the world. As of September 2019, Russia adopted the Paris Agreement In 2020, ...
, accounting for 14.4% of the country's
electricity consumption
Electric energy consumption is the form of energy consumption that uses electrical energy. Electric energy consumption is the actual energy demand made on existing electricity supply for transportation, residential, industrial, commercial, and ot ...
.
The prominence of
coal power
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a th ...
in Russia has been declining since 1990, although Russia has among the largest
coal reserves in the world.
Russia is the fifth largest consumer of coal in the world and is the
sixth largest producer of coal.
Coal reserves
Russia has the
second largest coal reserves in the world, equaling 19% of the world's total. The total coal reserves in Russia amount to
173 billion tons.
[ This puts Russia behind the United States in total coal reserves, which has 263 billion tons (see ]coal in the United States
Coal mining is an industry in transition in the United States. Production in 2019 was down 40% from the peak production of in 2008. Employment of 43,000 coal miners is down from a peak of 883,000 in 1923. Generation of electricity is the la ...
).
Coal production
Russia is currently sixth in the world in terms of coal production. It produced 323 million tons of coal in 2009, roughly 4% of the world's total production.[ As the overall Russian economy shrank in the 1990s following the ]fall of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
and transition to a market economy, coal production decreased as well, falling from a production of 425 million tons in 1988 to 232 million tons in 1998.
Coal production began to rise as the Russian economy rebounded following the 1998 financial crisis, but failed to reach Soviet-era production levels as it peaked at 329 million tons in 2008.[ Production once again declined with the effects from the 2008 global economic downturn and as world coal prices fell.][ Over two-thirds of coal produced in Russia is used domestically.][
]
Coal consumption
Russia is self-sufficient in coal, and consumed 223 million tons of coal in 2009.[ The percentage of coal in Russian power generation has been declining since 1990, when it was 20.7%, due to increasing ]gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
consumption as well as increasing nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
and hydroelectric energy production.[ Currently only 14.4% of Russia's power is produced from coal.][ Coal power plants in Turkey, such as Emba Hunutlu, which burn imported coal prefer Russian because it is cheaper than imports from other countries.
]
Personal ranks and rank insignia
In 1947, personal ranks were introduced for the personnel of the coal industry and mining construction, as well as uniforms with rank insignia
An insignia () is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body.
On its own, an insignia is a sign of a specific or general authority and is ...
on the collar patches of [tunics, jackets, great coats, and summer blouses. The personal ranks were abolished in 1954, for the coal industry and mining construction, as well as for most other civilian departments and agencies."Указ Президиума ВС СССР от 12.07.1954 об отмене персональных званий и знаков различия для работников гражданских министерств и ведомств." ''Викитека.''
Retrieved 2019-02-05.
See also
*Climate change in Russia
*Energy policy of Russia
*Nuclear power in Russia
*Renewable energy in Russia
References
{{Europe topic, Coal in
Coal in Russia,