14 DAY TRIAL // A new study carried out by researchers working with the US Energy Information Administration argues that, although it is very much true that said country is making progress towards getting rid of its coal addiction, other nations across the world seem to be just now discovering “the joys” of burning coal in order to meet their energy demands.
Furthermore, rumor has it that, in roughly four years' time, coal might even become more popular than oil, meaning that most of the power needed in order to keep human society up and running will come from this dirty energy source.
“Even though coal demand growth is slowing, coal’s share of the global energy mix is still rising, and by 2017 coal will come close to surpassing oil as the world’s top energy source,” the US Energy Information Administration warns.
Because of this, it need not come as a surprise that ongoing phenomena such as climate change and global warming continue to manifest themselves unhindered.
The specialists who pieced together this report explain that, in the end, it does not really matter where coal gets burnt, seeing how the resulting greenhouse gas emissions eventually all make their way into the atmosphere and speed up the increase of global average temperatures. Tree Hugger informs us that, by the looks of it, the US is the only country currently striving to improve on its ecological footprint by burning less coal and turning towards natural gas instead.
On the other hand, it appears that the nations in Europe and Asia are presently experiencing an increase in their demand for coal. Interestingly enough, the coal used to power countries in Europe and Asia is in fact provided by the US.
The same source informs that, since the year 2011 and up until present days, China had been the single largest importer of coal in the world.
In fact, one other recent study shows how, in 2011 alone, this particular country came fairly close to burning almost as much coal as all other nations combined.