Energy math is paradox.
Coal generation is up 72 billion kilowatt-hours this year, while wind and solar is up a combined 17 billion kilowatt-hours. Wind and solar is growing more rapidly--wind generation is up 20% and solar 94%--but from very small totals.
Wind's production in the first 6 months totaled 91 billion kilowatt-hours and coal's 764 billion kilowatt-hours. There are 8 kilowatt-hours generated from coal for every 1 kilowatt-hour produced by wind. Wind is growing rapidly, but an enormous gap remains between the production from coal and wind.
When all renewable resources are combined, including hydro, coal produces a bit less than 3 kilowatt-hours for every 1 produced by all renewable energy sources together. The gap between production from coal and all renewable energy is closing but will likely take about 15-20 years to close.
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