The year of coal: global consumption of the dirtiest fuel explodes

When we talk about the “end of the oil age” sooner or later someone always comes across as adding “In fact, the centuries of oil are numbered”. Oil has recently broken through the consumption of 100 million barrels per day (each barrel is equal to approximately 160 litres) and if it hasn’t risen further it is because of the limitations in production imposed by OPEC and the poor Chinese growth, due to the lockdown. But there is another fuel that is rarely talked about except to execrate it, the dirtiest of all, the accursed one, but also the one whose success has continued uninterruptedly since the industrial revolution. Three centuries. Let’s talk about coalwhich this year experienced marked growth also in this part of the world, seen as a less expensive alternative to gas.