A few days later, the U.S. Energy Information Agency's published its Short-Term Energy Outlook, showing gas still lagging behind coal in 2015, but taking the lead in 2016. Both show mounting pressure on coal primarily from gas, but also from growth in renewables. "EPA expected the Clean Power Plan would push gas to exceed coal by 2025," Rice University environmental engineering professor Daniel Cohan told me in an email. That suggests the decline of coal, dirtiest of the fuels, could continue even if Donald Trump succeeds in scuttling the Clean Power Plan. But without the Clean Power Plan, Cohan warned, coal could make a comeback.

Source: Forbes January 15, 2017 05:02 UTC