Uses
Because of its low energy density and typically high moisture content, brown coal is inefficient to transport and is not traded extensively on the world market compared with higher coal grades. It is often burned in power stations constructed very close to any mines, such as in Australia's Latrobe Valley and Luminant's Monticello plant in Texas. Primarily because of latent high moisture content of brown coal, carbon dioxide emissions from traditional brown-coal-fired plants are generally much higher than for comparable black-coal plants, with the world's highest-emitting being Hazelwood Power Station, Victoria. The operation of traditional brown-coal plants, particularly in combination with strip mining, can be politically contentious due to environmental concerns.
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