I was a young boy in the mid 50s and lived with my grandfather, mother and aunt in a wood shack while my dad was off in Korea and elsewhere. We had REA electricity, no running water and a propane powered stove. Had an out-house and a well for water.
What we DID have was a pot belly stove that burned anthracite coal. It warmed the four room house and boiled the water that went into the galvanized tub in which we took baths once a week. To my mind, anthracite coal is hard, clean and has a lot of energy output. I’d burn it today if I could get it in smaller chunks for my fireplace.
Anthracite is good stuff. Has about double the BTUs of wood.
Germany wrecked their economy with the green mythology. They are now working hard to revive he coal power plants.
But our dear leaders are so vain that they think the same powers of the universe do not apply to us.
A neighbor once gave me some coal so I tried a piece in with the wood in my pot belly stove. I had a heat exchanger on the exhaust to blow warm air and keep the house warm. The coal burned so hot the stove glowed red and it cooked the paint. I thought the house was going to burn down. We had to open the French doors to let the air blow through to cool the house down. This was a small home on Sullivans Island in SC. No more coal for me. It did contain lots of energy , and burned the wood much hotter. No need to clean the flue that year.