Whether it's a recession or an economic boom, one thing doesn't change, the need for energy. And until technology leaps ahead, coal is the largest producer of fuel for the generation of electricity in the world. It's also the most abundant fossil fuel in the United States. Coal is obviously not recession immune as people tighten the reigns on their lives and cut back on electricity consumption, but the shear necessity of electricity makes the coal industry fairly resistant. An investment in an exchange traded fund (ETF) that is centered on the coal industry is a great way to hedge your bets by investing in a pool of successful companies in the coal field.

Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL) seeks to replicate the price and yield performance of the Stowe Coal index, which provides exposure to publicly traded companies worldwide that derive greater than 50% of their revenues from the coal industry. With KOL you'll own shares of some of the most noted coal companies in the world, including Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI), which specializes in steam and metallurgical coal; CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX), a large provider of fuel for electricity in the United States; Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR), another leader in steam and metallurgical coal; and Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU), an exploration miner and coal producer worldwide, as well as several other highly rated coal companies across the globe.

Market Vector charges only a 0.65% fee, a fraction what a professional money manager would charge you to analyze research and pick coal mining stocks with this level of global reach. Recently KOL has gone through a typical correction for this commodity sector, but then suffered a greater hit as Asia saw a 20% decline in spot prices for thermal coal. The result? A better deal for those currently willing to dive into coal as an investment. KOL is up 14%, so maybe there's some light at the end of the mine.

"We're continuing to emphasize conventional energy, solar, shipping, agriculture, and commodities," says Harry Domash, who adds, "But one industry we've overlooked so far is coal."

In his Winning Investing, he explains, "This month, we're adding two coal industry picks. One, a short-term play to capture the action in hot coal mining stocks, and the other, a long-term dividend-paying investment."

"We've avoided coal primarily because environmentally speaking, coal is bad news. Coal is mostly used to generate electricity and to power steel plants. Crude oil prices are so high because supply can barely meet demand.

"Think about what would happen to oil prices if coal wasn't available. Due to increasing global demand, coal prices are moving up dramatically and it doesn't make sense for us to ignore that.

"For longer-term investors, we recommend Natural Resource Partners (NYSE: NRP), a master limited parternship. The MLP owns coal properties in the Appalachia, Illinois Basin, and the Western U.S. NRP leases its properties to mine operators.

"Profits from coal may be even bigger than from gold, which is viewed as coal's more glamorous and higher profile rival," notes Nick Vardy.

The editor of The Global Bull Market Alert explains, "The Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL) enables you to buy a basket of 39 coal-related companies from 12 different countries." Here's his overwiew of the exchange-traded fund.

"Despite its status as the most 'environmentally incorrect' source of energy, coal provides 25% of the world's energy and generates about half of the electricity in every state in the United States, except California.

"Coal plays a key role in the production of steel, with approximately 70% of the global steel production depending on coal as a source of energy. And the price of coal has been soaring to record levels.

International investing expert Nick Vardy is making a bet on coal, selecting the recently launched Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL).

In his Global Bull Market Alert, the advisor explains, "Profits from coal may prove to be even bigger than from gold, coal's more glamorous and higher-profile rival." Here's his review.

"Despite its status as the most 'environmentally-incorrect' source of energy, coal provides 25% of the world's energy and generates 40% of the world's electricity.

"Coal plays a key role in the production of steel with approximately 70% of global steel production depending on coal as a source of energy. And coal already is in a strong bull market.

"Richard Gibbs, head of the global economics unit at Australia's Macquarie Bank, calls 'the new gold.' He expects thermal coal prices to rise more than 50%, to an average $88 per metric ton, in the coming contract year.

It was a slow news day for Time Warner, Inc., which is probably a big huge sigh of relief for Dick & Wayne & team. They haven't exactly had an easy couple weeks of it, what with Jeffrey Bewkes criticizing the company's synergistic abilities and Wayne Pace being renamed the "Sugar Daddy." In the absence of news, the stock sighed a bit today, down 13 cents to $17.12 on below-average volume.

AOL released an interesting item yesterday, however, about a new co-branded kids' programming block for Saturday morning cartoons. The partnership, between KOL (AOL's children's brand) and CBS will include some new shows. My favorite concept: a new show based on Dance Dance Revolution with KOL DJ Rick Adams.

From the perspective of a mom with kids: smart move, AOL. I'm embarrassed to tell you how closely my four-year-old son watches the advertisements on his favorite shows, yelling to me while I'm working upstairs, "Mom, come down here so you can see these cool new [fill in blank] I want!" Children will certainly ask their parents to go online with them to KOL. Parents will certainly do so. If AOL can hook them there? That's clickable gold.