[Source:  http://www.worldcoal.org/resources/coal-statistics/coal-matters/]

Almost half of the world’s additional energy demand over the past ten years was provided by coal. All other fuels combined, including oil, natural gas, renewables and nuclear energy, accounted for the other half. In fact, every year over the last decade coal has been the world’s fastest growing energy source, driven by Asian demand and regional abundance of the fuel.

Coal is arguably the most important fuel in the global energy mix and certainly the second largest fuel in terms of energy consumption. It accounts for almost a third of the world’s primary energy consumption. Power generation is the key driver of growing coal demand, followed by industry and transformation processes such as blast furnaces and coke ovens.