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Coal usage is going down. It's just too expensive to control even the conventional pollutants that protect human health. It will continue to be used because of all the existing capital inventory, but fewer and fewer new coal plants are going to be constructed. Natural gas is displacing some of its share because it is cleaner and cheaper. Nuclear has extremely high capital costs so utilities are slow to bear that risk. Renewables are a significant fraction of electrical generating capacity even now and will continue to be an important component. The key is to have a diverse generating portfolio so that the utilities can respond effectively to changing conditions. So coal will be important, but not as much as in the past.
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