Comment by pavon
5 months ago
It is a real concern mostly due to the time frame in which energy production needs to be increased. It can't be met solely by building new clean (or fossil fuel) energy, and thus must result in delaying the shutdown of coal plants in addition to new production.
The data is easy to find. Five second search turns up:
https://wolfstreet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/US-coal-20...
This ends mid 2024, but I don’t see any evidence of a coal renaissance. I suppose we could be seeing some old dinosaur burners kept online a few years longer, but coal peaked in the early 2000s and has been in decline since.