Coal Isn't Going Away

It's unlikely that coal is going away anytime in the near future.  There may be a push for more coal gasification, as in  this Indiana plant, and more of it may go overseas, but the  demand for power is going to keep up the pressure to develop and produce all types of fuels.  The need for reliable power is especially acute in the developing world. The following is from Scientific American:

A quarter of the world is disconnected from debates over clean energy "because their reality is much more basic than that," said UNDP's director of development planning,Olav Kjørven. "They carry heavy loads of water on their backs because they don't have transport. They cook over wood fires that damage their health, not with electricity, gas or oil."

Telling these people to wait, or to use unreliable renewables like wind, is  cruel.