A new report by the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change shows the mixture of energy sources being used throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland. For example, the United Kingdom overall has increased its renewable energy generation by 27 percent in the last year and its renewable electricity capacity by 40 percent. However, the report also showed coal was a major player in the United Kingdom's energy industry in 2012.
Energy & Environmental Management reported England increased its coal-fired generation from 29.2 percent in 2011 to 32 percent in 2012. In Wales, coal-fired power saw an increase of more than 4 percent.
England isn't the only country where the coal energy market is still growing. Globally, two-thirds of the increase in electricity production seen throughout the past decade has been from coal, according to the Economist. The growth could mean that coal could tie with oil as the world's largest source of primary energy within just five years.
In China, for instance, coal demand tripled between 2001 and 2011, the article stated. And in India, the coal energy market is growing at a rate of 6 percent annually.
PennEnergy's research area offers more details on coal-fired generation.
