Coal Burning: A Fly in the Ash

Coal ash is an immense environmental problem. It consists of the fly ash, bottom ash, and other combustion byproducts that remain after coal is burned, of which fly ash is easily the most abundant waste. Burning coal in power plants to generate electricity generates over 100 million tons of coal ash each year in the United States alone, enough to fill about 1 million railcars, if only we had someplace safe to move it.