Coal power in the United States accounted for 42% of the country's electricity production in 2011. Utilities buy more than 90 percent of the coal mined in the United States.
In 2009, there were 1436 coal-powered units at the electrical utilities across the US, with the total nominal capacity of 338.732 GW (compared to 1024 units at nominal 278 GW in 2000). The actual average generated power from coal in 2006 was 227.1 GW (1.991 trillion kilowatt-hours per year), the highest in the world and still slightly ahead of China (1.95 trillion kilowatt-hours per year) at that time. Back in 2000, the US average production of electricity from coal was 224.3 GW (1.966 trillion kilowatt-hours per year). In 2006, the U.S. consumed 1,026,636,000 short tons (931,349,000 metric tons) or 92.3% of coal for electricity generation.
Read more about Coal Power In The United States: Recent Trends, Comparisons, and Forecasts, Safety, Environmental Impacts
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