Absent regulation like a carbon tax that would change the economics substantially, coal is pretty unlikely to disappear completely in our lifetimes. In the short term, there is a lot of regulatory risk involved in natural gas from shale fracking - prices could suddenly skyrocket and having coal as a backup is absolutely essential for power generation companies. In the long term, there is a lot of uncertainty about when utility-scale battery tech, molten salt nuclear, or other base load generation tech will become cost effective on a TCO basis.

It's much easier to assume those that disagree with us are ignorant than to assume that we are ignorant of something and seek out alternative explanations for their beliefs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/opinion/nicholas-kristof-...