Experience from actual installations utilizing the mic one system to balance coal flow distribution to each individual burner has shown that combustion optimization provides immediate, easily quantifiable benefits such as a 1 to 3% improvement in unit heat rate and a 5 to 15% reduction in NO_x emissions. Improving unit heat rate reduces the amount of coal burned to produce each kilowatt-hour of electric output resulting in lower CO₂ emissions. Each pound of coal not burned results in 2.2 lbs less CO₂ emissions, so for a typical 500MWe generating unit, a 2% heat rate improvement results in about 28,000 less tons of coal burn per year and 62,500 less tons of CO₂ emitted.