Dec 2, HOUSTON - U.S. coal consumption fell 1 percent last week and was down 15 percent from the same week a year ago, according to power industry data monitor Genscape. Coal use swings up and down seasonally, and varies from week to week and region to region, depending on electricity demand to run air-conditioners or power heaters. Economic activity also is a factor. Coal plants produce slightly less than 50 percent of U.S. electricity. Power generation accounts for more than 90 percent of U.S. coal consumption. Genscape's regional indexes are calculated separately from the national index and do not always add up to the separately calculated U.S. total. Following is a table on coal consumption, in million tons. THROUGH Dec 1 48th WEEK of YEAR PCT PCT REGION THIS WEEK LAST WEEK YR-AGO CHNG WK CHNG YR National 16.27 16.36 19.04 -1 -15 East 13.67 13.84 16.32 -1 -16 West 2.48 2.43 2.57 +2 -4
