Its been ages and ages since i have seen a coal truck--My childrens elementary school still used coal when they started school, but very, very few building still do-- EPA-clean air regulations, all that. Con Edison, our local utility does have some coal fired utility plants in the city, but with fancy scrubbers on the stacks.
Manhattan is strange-- Con Edison sell steam as well as electricity and gas-- and there are steam pipes all about manhattan. If you have ever seen a movie scene in NY, with steamy clouds-- well its real, there are some steam vents in the streets. More, than that though, the streets and sidewalks of manhattan tend to have snow melt very rapidly--since there is so much underground, subways, steam pipes, sewers, chases for electrical and telephone service...there is not as much under ground as there is above, but there is more underground than many cities have above..all of which means, the ground is warmer.
But do pack your thermals-- the news of the day is a big storm system that is expected on saturday (dec 29th) with 6 inches of snow if we are lucky, and an ice storm if we are unlucky.
