Coal is under pressure in the United States, and not the natural kind of pressure involved in its creation from plant material. The pressure coal is under today is of a distinctly unnatural kind, shaped by an increasingly far-reaching and unbalanced regulatory agenda. The energy playing field continues to be tilted away from coal, a primary target of that agenda. Yet coal's leading position as a critical fuel in the electricity marketplace continues. Though its share of that marketplace has generally been trending down over the past several years, coal remains the largest of any fuel source for electric generation. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts coal to retain the leading position in 2015 as well as over the longer term – including a 34 percent share in 2040. 

Article title: Coal's Place in the Energy and Electricity Space 

Reference: ELECTR6182 

Journal title: The Electricity Journal 

Corresponding author: Ms. Betsy Monseu 

First author: Ms. Betsy Monseu 

Final version published online: 3-AUG-2015 Full bibliographic details: The 

Electricity Journal 28 (2015), pp. 104-111 DOI information: 

10.1016/j.tej.2015.06.002