Is coal the worlds fastest growinng fossil fuel?

Answer 1

Hardly. Use of coal as fuel has been declining since the increase in the use of oil in the late 19th century. The overall consumption of coal has increased over that time, quite a different matter, as the overall consumption of all fuels has increased. But the total consumption of fuels has a smaller and smaller use for coal, as other fuel uses increase at a faster rate.

Just for a few well known examples. Railway locomotives were almost exclusively operated on coal, yet are now almost exclusively diesel/electric for long haul and electric for urban uses. Homes were by and large heated with coal in urban settings 100 years ago, those have been replaced in the majority by natural gas or electricity, and lesser by oil. Most manufacturing companies worldwide used coal to power machinery, much of that has been replaced with centralized utility plants providing electricity, with less small power plants (satellites) relying on their own power production, yet those that do have converted to oil or gas for fuel. So even though most electricity is produced by coal worldwide, its use is declining in most developed countries. The increase in use of coal in developing countries is more a factor of a total increase in fuel use in those countries.

** in the 1930s and 40s there were thousands of operating coal mines in 34 US states. Today there is less than half as many mines in 26 states. With an increasingly greater percentage of coal being mined in western states like Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Coal is no longer mined north of Pennsylvania in the east.