Abstract
The world today depends on the fossil fuels oil, coal, and gas (in that order of importance) for over 80% for its primary energy. From the time early humans tamed fire, wood or biomass became their primary energy sources. Coal took over the leading role from biomass during the Industrial Revolution and accounted for over 60% of the world’s primary energy by the early 1900s. The current age is often referred to as the Oil Age, which is somewhat appropriate considering that about 35% of the world’s primary energy still comes from oil. However, today about 25% of the world’s primary energy and more than 40% of the world’s electricity comes from coal. In addition, about 66% of the world’s steel is produced using coal (IEA-Statistics 2005; VDKI 2006).
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Schernikau, L. (2010). Introduction. In: Economics of the International Coal Trade. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9240-3_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9240-3_2
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