"We are in the dark ages of gas in Europe and have some kind of golden age of coal," said Ms. Corbeau, an analyst for the International Energy Agency. Cheap coal is displacing expensive gas in Europe.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-31/gas-golden-age-darkens-in-europe-on-u-s-coal-energy-markets.html. Gas demand in Europe is down about 7%, but EU carbon emissions so far in 2012 are up 10%, as coal combustion and imports of US coal surge.
"If you burn gas in a power plant, you burn money; if you burn coal, you make money. Given our climate goals, that's the stupidest thing we can do, but commercial realities force companies to do that," says Walter Boltz, vice-chairman at the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators
Fracking bans in France and Bulgaria, expensive gas across the continent, and closing nuclear units, as Germany has done, all add up to a recipe for rising carbon emissions in Europe itself.
In the US, the story is flipped. Thanks to the shale revolution, gas is cheap and carbon emissions have been slashed to 1992 levels.
There are huge lessons for the environment and economy in the European failure on gas and the US success.
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