Carbon Economy

Petroleum heads west in tank cars, while coal heads east in bathtub gondolas.  There is a vast quantity of carbon energy being moved around here.

There are perhaps 6000 megawatt-hours in the coal train, enough to keep the biggest power stations fired up for about an hour.

There is roughly 20 times that quantity of energy in the gasoline, and consequently it has a much greater commodity value.  You could travel perhaps 100,000 miles in family car with that fuel.  For comparison, I consume about a tanker car of kerosene in a typical 18 months of air travel.