One day of global coal consumption. Illustration of one day's worth of global coal consumption, visualised as a pile engulfing the skyscrapers of New York City, New York, USA. It is estimated that the coal uses each day would form a pile 236 metres high and 673 metres across. It would fill a volume the size of the UN Secretariat Building (left) every 17 minutes. This visual is based on statistics from 2013: 7.9 billion metric tons of coal (21.6 million metric tons per day, 250 metric tons per second).