knowledge center

ENERGY BASICS: coal

State of Play:

The use of coal, a staple of heating and electricity-generation for decades, is in decline in the United States — supplanted by newly abundant production of natural gas — but is still dominant in some parts of the world. While economical, coal use is particularly problematic as international attention focuses increasingly on climate change.

What are the types of coal?

Coal comes in four types: anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite.

Anthracite, with the highest heating value, is found only in northeastern Pennsylvania, and represents less than 1 percent of coal mined in the United States.

Bituminous, representing about 44 percent of U.S. coal production, can be found in a number of states, but predominantly in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Subbituminous accounts for about 46 percent of U.S. production, and is mined primarily in Wyoming and Montana.

Lignite, with the lowest heating value, accounts for about 9 percent of U.S. production, primarily in North Dakota and Texas.

Energy Information Administration

here today, more tomorrow

We’ve launched briefing.center with a focus on the press and media.

And we’ve added Citizen Cartwright, a daily quick-read news summary by veteran Washington journalist Linda Cartwright. We’ve also created a new voting rights knowledge center for Citizen Cartwright subscribers. (You can sign up for a dedicated morning email at citizencartwright.com.)

You can sign up here for full access to press and media and Citizen Cartwright on briefing.center.

You can use briefing.center as the center of your information management, or just one of your tools. We’re happy to discuss your information needs.

Sign up