§ Mr. William Rossasked the Secretary of State for Energy how many tons of coal per year would be needed to replace the current market for gas if coal were to be converted to gas rather than being used as a solid fuel.
§ Mr. EadieThe gas supplied in the United Kingdom in 1976 was about 15,000 million therms. The technology for the conversion of coal to substitute natural 31W gas has not yet been fully developed, but on the basis of published estimates of the conversion efficiency of processes under development, the amount of coal required to produce 15,000 million therms of substitute natural gas would be between 85 and 100 million tons.