Coal:

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock composed mostly of

carbon and hydrocarbons. It is the most abundant fossil fuel produced in the United
States.

Coal is a nonrenewable energy source because it takes millions of years to create. The
energy in coal comes from the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of
years ago, when the Earth was partly covered with swampy forests.

For millions of years, a layer of dead plants at the bottom of the swamps was covered by
layers of water and dirt, trapping the energy of the dead plants. The heat and pressure
from the top layers helped the plant remains turn into what we today call coal.

Production of Coal:
Coal production is the amount of coal that is mined and sent to market. In 2008, the
amount of coal produced at U.S. coal mines was 1,171.8 million short tons. Coal is
mined in 26 States. Wyoming mines the most coal, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky,
Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Coal is mainly found in three large regions, the Appalachian Coal Region, the Interior
Coal Region, and Western Coal Region (includes the Powder River Basin).

More than one-third of the coal produced in the United States comes from the Appalachian Coal
Region. West Virginia is the largest coal-producing State in the region, and the second largest
coal-producing State in the United States. This region has large underground mines and small
surface mines. Coal mined in the Appalachian coal region is primarily used for steam generation
for electricity, metal production, and for export.

Proved recoverable coal reserves at end-2006 (million tonnes (teragrams))[61]

Country Bituminous & anthracite SubBituminous & lignite TOTAL Share
United States 111,338 135,305 246,643 22.51
[62]
Pakistan 0 184,658 184,658 16.85
Russia 49,088 107,922 157,010 14.33
China 62,200 52,300 114,500 10.45
 India 90,085 2,360 92,445 8.44
Australia 38,600 39,900 78,500 7.17
South Africa 48,750 0 48,750 4.44
Ukraine 16,274 17,879 34,153 3.12
Kazakhstan 28,151 3,128 31,279 2.86
Poland 14,000 0 14,000 1.28
Brazil 0 10,113 10,113 0.92
Germany 183 6,556 6,739 0.62
Colombia 6,230 381 6,611 0.6
Canada 3,471 3,107 6,578 0.6
Czech Republic 2,094 3,458 5,552 0.5
Indonesia 740 4,228 4,968 0.45
Turkey 278 3,908 4,186 0.38
Greece 0 3,900 3,900 0.36
Hungary 198 3,159 3,357 0.3
Bangladesh 2,900 2,900 0.26
Bulgaria 4 2,183 2,187 0.2
Serbia 200 1,800 2,000 0.18
Thailand 0 1,354 1,354 0.12
Mexico 860 351 1,211 0.11
North Korea 300 300 600 0.05
New Zealand 33 538 571 0.052
Spain 200 330 530 0.05
Zimbabwe 502 0 502 0.05
Romania 22 472 494 0.05
Venezuela 479 0 479 0.04
All others 4,691 24,111 28,802 2.63
TOTAL 478,771 430,293 909,064 100

Major coal producers

 Production of Coal by Country and year (million tonnes)[61][64]
Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Share Reserve Life (years)
USA 972.3 1008.9 1026.5 1053.6 1040.2 1062.8 18.0 % 224
South Africa 237.9 243.4 244.4 244.8 247.7 250.4 4.2 % 121
Russia 276.7 281.7 298.5 309.2 314.2 326.5 4.6 % 481
Poland 163.8 162.4 159.5 156.1 145.9 143.9 1.8 % 52
Indonesia 114.3 132.4 146.9 195.0 217.4 229.5 4.2 % 19
India 375.4 407.7 428.4 447.3 478.4 521,7 5.8 % 114
Germany 204.9 207.8 202.8 197.2 201.9 192.4 3.2 % 35
EU 638.0 628.4 608.0 595.5 593.4 587.7 5.2 % 51
China 1722.0 1992.3 2204.7 2380.0 2526.0 2782.0 42.5 % 41
Australia 351.5 366.1 378.8 385.3 399.0 401.5 6.6 % 190
Total World 5187.6 5585.3 5886.7 6195.1 6421.2 6781.2 100 % 142

Major coal exporters

Exports of Coal by Country and year (million short tons)

Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Share
Australia 238.1 247.6 255.0 255.0 268.5 278.0 25.6%
Indonesia 107.8 131.4 142.0 192.2 221.9 228.2 21.0%
Russia 41.0 55.7 98.6 103.4 112.2 115.4 10.6%
USA 43.0 48.0 51.7 51.2 60.6 83.5 7.7%
Colombia 50.4 56.4 59.2 68.3 74.5 81.5 7.5%
China 103.4 95.5 93.1 85.6 75.4 68.8 6.3%
South Africa 78.7 74.9 78.8 75.8 72.6 68.2 6.3%
Canada 27.7 28.8 31.2 31.2 33.4 36.5 3.4%
Total 713.9 764.0 936.0 1,000.6 1,073.4 1,087.3 100%

Major coal importers

Imports of Coal by Country and year (million short tons)[]

Country 2006 2007 2008 Share
 Japan 199.7 209.0 206.0 19.4%
South Korea 84.1 94.1 107.1 10.1%
India 52.7 29.6 70.9 6.7%
Taiwan 69.1 72.5 70.9 6.7%
Germany 50.6 56.2 55.7 5.2%
Total 991.8 1,056.5 1,063.2 100%

Uses of Coal:
Almost 93% of the coal used in the United States is used for generating electricity.
Except for a small amount of exports, the rest of the coal is used as a basic energy
source in many industries including steel, cement, and paper. The major uses of coal
are:

For Electric Power

Coal is used to create almost half of all electricity generated in the United States. Power
plants burn coal to make steam. The steam turns turbines (machines for generating
rotary mechanical power) that generate electricity.

In addition to companies in the electric power sector, industries and businesses with
their own power plants use coal to generate electricity.

For Industry
A variety of industries use coal's heat and by-products. Separated ingredients of coal
(such as methanol and ethylene) are used in making plastics, tar, synthetic fibers,
fertilizers, and medicines.

Coal is also used to make steel. Coal is baked in hot furnaces to make coke, which is
used to smelt iron ore into iron needed for making steel. It is the very high temperatures
created from the use of coke that gives steel the strength and flexibility for things like
bridges, buildings, and automobiles.