When planning for long trips, Carbon has the highest consumable power yield per single T1 slot of any item in the entire game, with a few exceptions;
The T2 slot that a Medium Generator necessarily takes up is effectively 8 T1 slots that could be used by a medium storage to hold Organic and Small Generators.
Consequently, it's possible to carry more energy per storage space used by placing Organic instead of Carbon if space is limited.
The ratio flips above 12 spaces used; 12 T1 spaces worth of Organic or Carbon produce almost exactly the same amount of power, including the overhead of the space the generator takes up. An easy way to remember is that if you must carry more than 12 Organic for portable power, you will be able to store more total energy by using a Medium Generator instead. ;)
Coal's purpose in the game was as a solid fuel which powered the Medium Generator, even though it was generally thought to be superfluous in the main game flow; As a trade resource it was as valuable as titanium, making it nonetheless exciting to discover.
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Carbon icon
A Medium Generator using Carbon
Organic smelting into Carbon
Carbon with an extra connecting node after being made