TL;DR
1) Remove or repurpose the "Burner" items from the game.2) Add "Burner" functionality to most or all other items.
What ?
1) Drop the burner miner and inserter. Or, maybe rename the burner miner to "small miner" or something like that.2) Allow regular miners and inserters to accept coal and burn that coal to function if there is no power, perhaps at a slower rate. For example, the regular inserter could run at about the same rate a burner inserter does now, if it has coal in it.
2a) Then add this burner functionality to a lot if not everything else in the game that runs on power. Labs can burn fuel to run before you have power plants. Assemblers, too.
2b) When burning coal the buildings all run at a slower pace, so this is not a a viable replacement to real power except at the start of the game or perhaps in remote outposts or as a backup for when the power runs out.
2c) All inserters would start like burners do now, with enough power to load themselves with a fuel as their first action. If they have electrical power, they do not use this extra energy but like burners do now, they do not reserve it only for grabbing fuel; they can run out of power just like burner inserters do now.
Why ?
Burner miners and inserters are fine and all, but they're very specialized and not super useful after you get power up and running which is among the very first things you do in the game.Likewise, early on it could be convenient to not have to set up your first power plant before banging out the first couple researches and/or setting up your first few assemblers.
You can remove two of the least-used items from the game, or even better repurpose the burner miner as a "small miner" that can use power just like its big brother.
