Coal consumption is surging in not just China and India but also in Europe to the surprise of many.
www.economist.com/news/briefing/21569039-europes-energy-policy-delivers-worst-all. "The amount of electricity generated from coal is rising at annualised rates of as much as 50% in some European countries" writes the Economist. Moreover, substantial numbers of new coal plants are being built in Germany and some other European nations.
Why is coal surging in Europe but declining in the United States? It's not President Obama, as some would have it. Instead the answer is the price of natural gas, coal's main competitor, in Europe and the USA.
As the Economist writes: "Compared with the rock-bottom price of gas in America, coal is not all that cheap. But it is a bargain compared with the price of gas in Europe...So coal is cheaper than gas in Europe and is likely to remain so..."
The Economist goes on to say about European power trends: "In response, companies are switching from gas to coal as fast as they can..."
And what about renewables in Europe? They are growing substantially. Germany is likely to reach 30% or 35% of its electricity coming from renewables in 10 to 15 years. Even once it is achieved, that goal, of course, will leave 65% of electricity to come from other sources. And as the Economist points out, renewables in Europe are "...in fact displacing gas but not coal."
In the USA the shale gas boom exists, natural gas pricing is low, and gas is displacing coal.
In Europe, the shale gas boom does not exist, with France banning fracking. Natural gas prices, therefore, are high, and coal-fired generation increases. It's economics 101.
With one amendment, The Economist provides the fact of the day: "While coal production and use plummet in America, in Europe 'we have some kind of golden age of coal,' says Anne-Sophie Corbeau of the International Energy Agency." The amendment is that coal has reached its highest share of global energy in the last 45 years. It is enjoying a golden age around the world, with the important exception of the USA, where natural gas has displaced large amounts of coal, as a result of the shale gas revolution.