ABB Power Plant Laboratories Combustion Engineering, Inc., (ABB CE) and CQ Inc. completed a broad, comprehensive program to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of using higher quality U.S. coals for electrical power generation and developed state-of-the-art user-friendly software--Coal Quality Expert (CQE)-- to reliably predict/estimate these benefits in a consistent manner. The program was an essential extension and integration of R&D projects performed in the past under U.S. DOE and EPRI sponsorship and it expanded the available database of coal quality and power plant performance information. This software will permit utilities to purchase the lowest cost clean coals tailored to their specific requirements.