from WNEP 16 Today

Demand for Coal Climbs

Monday, October 22, 4:37 p.m.
By Bob Reynolds

It was the way most people heated their homes and businesses many years ago. Now coal is making a comeback, according to those in the mining industry. The demand for coal keeps a couple in Schuylkill County on the move.

Tom Lucas loves coal. He used to be a coal miner before changing careers. He now delivers what sometimes is called black diamonds.

"I always loved mining. My family were miners, my dad, my uncles, my grandfather," Lucas said.

For 30 years he has worked with his wife, Deb, when not delivering coal. They run a restaurant near Schuylkill Haven.

"We always work together," said Deb Lucas, adding her husband is boss on the coal truck and she is the boss at the restaurant.

The couple said they find themselves spending more time delivering coal for heating purposes. Government figures show fuel oil and gas prices up by 20 percent compared to last year. They added coal prices are steady. Demand is up.

"Say with $100 worth of heat with oil that heat would cost you roughly around 30 percent of that for the same amount of B.T.Us with coal," Tom Lucas said.

"The price is a lot cheaper than the electric and the oil and all that. We had oil at our house and we put coal in," added Deb Lucas.

Larue Yeich believes she has saved thousands of dollars over the years by burning coal. "We had total electric but it was too expensive and we've had the (coal) burner in I would say 30, 35 years," Yeich said.

Tom and Deb Lucas believe coal will always give the best heating bang for the buck.

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time to start diggin

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

Just some numbers for comparison: Wood Pellets at 180.00 a ton costs 12.86 per million btus, Fuel Oil at 2.50 a gallon costs 18.03 per million btus Propane at 2.80 a gallon costs 33.32 per million btus and anthracite at 170.00 a ton costs 6.80 per million btus.

if that right there doesnt make people believers i dont know what will, thats some good info there mike!

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If anybody wants to there own comparison you can go to www.readingstove.com and click on coal efficency. You can find the cost per millon btus for most common home heating fuels.

welllll the demand just went up on the breakers... we lost one.

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

I'm a believer. Time to get rid of the natural gas and put in a coal stove.

I think there is one big problem with coal stoves. They require work. Can you see some soccer mom getting a big ole scoop shovel full of coal and throwing in there and then in the evening going out and cleaning out the ash bin? When I was a kid my family all had coal stoves. Later on they all went to heating oil. Currently I have natural gas with a wood/coal stove assist. I fire up the natural gas to warm up the house then use the wood/coal stove to keep it warm all day. I mainly use wooden pallets though. I get them for free and 1 minute with a chain saw I can have a couple cut up and ready to be burnt.

well some modern coal stoves have stokers that feed it automatically and have auto ash dispersant systems, however with these features it is sometimes more work still. i guess the stoker can clog or get stuck, and the ash bin needs changing. however for the savings id be into it

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my parents have one of these stokers, it didnt burn out all winter apparetly, they are expensive and everything gets dusty but its damn warm. id get one, i think it was like 3500 however!

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What goes around comes around.

Soccer mom? No I cannot. Although soccer mom I ain't.
They call it progress when it involves less work. I'm all for returning to a simpler life, albeit requiring more work. Nothing wrong with work.






Sounds like you have a good set up there. Especially after seeing the word "free."
Efficiency is a good thing.

~Shana