For us coal newbies, here are definitions from
usoe.k12.ut.us.
Coal is a solid fossil fuel that occurs in four basic types: peat, lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. Peat is the raw material from which coal is made. It is not much more than compressed plant remains. It is used in various areas of the world, especially in the British Isles where it is cut into cubes and dried to be burned in stoves. Lignite is the next step in coal formation. It is low-grade coal and occasionally has remains of unconverted plant material. Bituminous coal is a higher grade coal, containing no unconverted plant remains. It burns cleaner than lignite. Anthracite is metamorphic coal and is the highest grade of coal. It burns the cleanest and gives off the most heat.
Here's a graph that shows worldwide coal reserves:
royal.okanagan.bc.ca
also
eia.doe.gov
Here's a very nice map of the US coal reserves and below is it's associated info:
ket.org
Although 90 percent of the country's coal reserves are concentrated in 10 states, coal in mined in 27 states and can be found in even more. Montana has the most coal, 25 percent of demonstrated reserves. Wyoming, third among states with the most coal, is first in coal output, accounting for 18 percent of annual production.
U.S. coal reserves contain 12 times as much energy as all the oil in Saudi Arabia! A brief look at some numbers explains why coal is the country's most abundant and important energy resource.
According to the United States Geological Survey, we have 1.7 trillion tons of identified coal resources -- coal for which geological evidence and engineering studies provide reliable information about location, rank, quality, and quantity. (Geologists recognize that more coal deposits are likely to be discovered in the future, so they estimate total coal resources could amount to 4 trillion tons.)
Much of the coal we know about cannot be mined today, because it would be too costly or existing technology doesn't allow it. It may be too deep, for example, or the quality may not meet current needs. So to be realistic, experts estimate that 472 billion tons of that coal are potentially recoverable. This is called the demonstrated reserve base.
Mining techniques leave a good deal of coal in place, so the amount of coal that experts estimate actually can be mined is called the recoverable reserve base. It amounts to an estimated 267 billion tons -- 29 percent of the entire world's recoverable coal!
Coal includes all coal, both primary (including hard coal and lignite) and derived fuels (including patent, coke oven coke, gas coke, BKB, coke oven gas, and blast furnace gas). Peat is also included in this category.
For more information on a coal type, please see the following list:
Coke Oven Coke and Gas Coke
Coking Coal
Lignite
Patent Fuel and Brown Coal / Peat Briquettes (BKB)
Peat
Other Bituminous Coal and Anthracite
Sub-Bituminous Coal
Mark N.
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