Fancy Pizza Ovens Are Reviving the American Coal Industry

In 2015, coal seems like kind of an antiquated thing. One imagines billowing smokestacks, shoveling turn-of-the-century workers on ships, and chimney sweeps coated in ebony dust. And in a more environmentally conscious world where people are eager to abandon coal in favor of solar and wind power, what's the industry to do? Hell, even gold miners are now turning to weed and restaurants for a career change.

Well, like the rest of us, the coal industry is thinking about pizza. Pizza ovens, more specifically.

According to the Boston Globe, our nation's growing proclivity for coal-fired pizza—the microwavable kind is, of course, still acceptable in case of emergency—has resulted in a newfound interest in anthracite coal, a variety of coal that allows for the hottest flames when burned.

There are numerous reasons why the coal industry could use a little help from pizza snobs. For starters, there's the aforementioned competition from alternative energy sources, but that's not to mention the lack of supply in general that the industry has been suffering. And frankly, despite the fact that roughly half of America's electricity still comes from coal, not very people are interested in becoming coal miners nowadays.

Once a popular choice for powering trains and heating homes, anthracite now only accounts for about 1 percent of coal worldwide, but it has the highest carbon content and the lowest number of impurities of all types of coal, making it ideal for imparting a smoky flavor into the crust of cooking up your favorite cheesy drunk snack.

"That market just kind of snuck up on us," Greg Driscoll, the chief executive officer of Pennsylvania-based corporation Blaschak Coal, told the Globe.

Now, pizza restaurants are one of the fastest-growing client sectors for coal companies, says Driscoll, despite making up less than 4 percent of the coal Blaschak sells in total.

So why choose coal over, say, good old wood-firing? The hotter temperature at which anthracite burns not only adds flavor, but also cooks pizza at hotter temperatures, offering greater consistency in product. It's one of the few types of coal that is seeing growth during this period—and demand continues to be on the up and up.

"The phenomenon of coal-fired pizza has a lot to do with flavor," Fred LeFranc of restaurant advisory group Results Thru Strategy told the Globe.

Hell, even if America's feeling a little ambivalent about coal power, nothing will keep them away from a pizza with a perfect crust.