Wind And Solar Crush Coal’s Place As Energy Providers

By Douglas McIntyre  •  March 14, 2025
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Wind and solar energy are growing fast enough to provide more coal. Based on greenhouse gas emissions, coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel. From a “green” standpoint, it could go a long way to stabilizing climate change if replaced by wind and solar.

MIT reports, “Coal contains more carbon than oil or gas. When we burn these fuels, the higher amount of carbon in coal reacts to form CO2, while a higher proportion of hydrogen in oil and gas causes them to form H2O along with CO2.” It generates about 15% of the electricity in the US. In China and India, that future is much higher. 

New Report On Energy

According to energy research firm Ember’s US Electricity 2025 – Special Report, 

“The US clean electricity transition continued as wind and solar generated more than coal for the first time. Electricity demand growth sped up and solar generation rose more quickly than gas to help meet it.”  Solar and wind generated 17% of electricity last year and coal dropped to 15%. 

The news raises a series of questions about the future. One is that the new administration is not “green friendly.” It has killed any chance of building more offshore wind farms, and government support for both solar and wind has been partially gutted.

New AI And AC Demand

The other challenge is that the demand for energy has started to hit a period of huge demand with no precedent. Most of it is for AI server farms. There is a need to fuel air conditioning, which was generated largely because of global arming.

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