US to burn 1.2 pct less coal for power in 2009-EIA
NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. power plants will burn 1.2 percent less coal this year than last as the economic crunch hurts electricity demand, the top U.S. energy forecasting agency said on Tuesday.
U.S. power plants will burn about 1,029.3 million tons of coal in 2009, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly short-term energy forecast.
The agency revised the number down from expected use of 1,037 million tons in its forecast released in January.
In 2008, U.S. coal plants burned about 1,041.3 million tons of coal.
The EIA said power generation from other sources, including nuclear and wind, would also help cut the amount of coal burned.
Demand should recover by 2010, with power plants burning 1,048 million tons of coal, the EIA said.
The power sector burns 90 percent of U.S. coal. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Walter Bagley)