8BitGore

Great, thank you!. So the hydrogen in Coal is what makes it burn? Thanks for the reply! I understand that, but it appears that the U.S. didn't build it's infrastructure to run off of these alternatives. Do we have machines that convert heat from wood into electricity? If coal were to disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow would we change to wood to power our factories, power our homes?

Starting a story about a world without electricity or vehicles. Think post apocalyptic world without an apocalypse. Going back to nature. I already know how to get rid of natural gas and oil, my dilemma is coal. We use it to power nearly 40% of America and my understanding is that carbon is the property in coal that is used to produce heat / electricity? I realize carbon is a basis of life so is it possible to have coal that couldn't be turned into energy?