Coal has been important, but with the rapid advance of renewables, it is quickly being phased out. In the UK Coal has dropped very fast, and now we go for long periods without any on the grid. Unfortunately, elsewhere they are still building coal power plants, places like China. This is not only bad for the environment, but it is also bad business, and bad for consumers. We, in the west, must help many countries in Africa and the rest of the developing world, to skip coal altogether.