While Trump can signal for a return to coal power, is it really easy to turn the tide on a declining industry in the United States?

Of Victoria Heath

To President Donald Trump is coal ‘Beautiful’ and ‘clean’. For the environment, fossil fuel is none of these things. It is this tension between the president’s view of the most planet-pollutant fossil fuel and reality in its environmental impact-as urges some to consider which direction the United States will go in the next coal.

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Currently, the most important benefits for the US extermination of COPD are economic and environmental. There are 210 coal systems throughout the United States – of which 209 – representing 99 percent of its total – are more expensive to drive than comparable green energy sources, such as sun or wind. The economic savings of stopping coal power in the United States would be huge and generate more than $ 586 billion in new investments across the country.

The environmental benefits would also be significant if carbon use was stopped: the non-renewable energy source is superior to the Worst fuel When it comes to climate change, you release more carbon dioxide compared to oil or gas when burned.

But with Trump issuing executive orders that raise the rules for the development of fossil fuel, Bid’s plans for a carbon -free power sector in 2035 are in balance. Is it possible for America to reap the benefits of releasing the grip on the coal industry, or is such a reality now convicted?

Carbon -powered data centers

Former Trump Kullkol As the ideal solution for rising demand within the electricity, partly thanks to energy-hungry data centers that run artificial intelligence systems such as chatgpt and Google Gemini. One reason for this is the carbon’s ability to produce energy constantlyUnlike renewable resources such as solar energy, which requires special conditions to function. Of course, the environmental balance between the two is huge, but it is the rapid and reliable ability of the coal to produce large amounts of energy that keeps it in Trump’s eye line.

Only last month suggested the president Roll back Bid’s plans for a carbon -free US and build new coal systems dedicated to operating this data centers. If designed, these would be some of the first new coal plants that the United States has seen in more than a decade.

But even though Trump can imagine a future where the corps of US energy come from coal, reality in the energy market differs greatly.

In the United States, coal production has decreased in recent decades. In 2023, 16 percent of US electricity came from coal systems, a figure from more than half compared to 1990. A number of factors have caused such a decrease, from environmental regulations to the revolution of fracking, which led to natural gas prices driven down.

Consequently, the colinfrastructure that Trump wants to be a journey that is probably full of shock forward. In light of environmental considerations and the pure energy sector, many investors can see COPD as a risky and thus unmatched investment and can choose to divert their cash into greener alternatives such as sun or wind.

In addition, the companies that own AI Data Center – such as Google and META – must navigate in an important balance between energy needs and follow their own climate commitments, says head of climate policy at Sierra Club Patrick Drupp. As such, the use of carbon may be less attractive to them.

“It has been shown during the last three administrations (that) even US president cannot change markets, the trend for COPD,” said the University of Wyoming Economics Professor Rob Godby. For Godby, Trump’s plans to encourage coal growth will not exceed the clear trend for US coal production.

“The long -term trend is difficult to get out,” he said.

Reverse pension on coal systems

So about building new coal systems can be a difficult reality to adopt, there are still other ways that Trump can extend fossil fuel use in the United States. One such method is to extend the life of carbon systems that already exist in the country.

During the Biden, many coal and natural gas plants were incited to close by 2032, as these plants did not have to change any of their operations to suit environmentally conscious regulations. Anyone planned to function after this date would have been subjected to a regulation that decreased or captured 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions.

Now, with Trump that is likely to return these regulations enforced by the Democrat Party, this incentive may be closed earlier. Already extends several smaller plants across the country their operations: one Illinois With a proposed near date this year is now in operation until 2027.

This could be the solution solution that Trump could find to run AI data centers. Although building new coal systems may prove to be difficult, it may be easier to reverse the retirement of a plant that is closing, especially in light of rising energy requirements for these data centers.

Before Trump’s election, Largest coal system In America – Plant Bowen in Georgia – had intended to close by 2035 last. Now it can go further because of the demand from Data centers.

What can the United States expect?

It is difficult to determine the extent to which Trump’s presidency – and his views on COPD – will affect US use of fossil fuels. Although it is true that Trump’s more positive point of view on COPD differs from its declining prevalence as an energy source, a scenario where he weakens environmental regulations on coal systems can create hospitable conditions for their continued operations. Against the background of rising energy needs due to AI data centers, this can also stimulate carbon systems to continue to push away.

For many, however, COPD quickly forms up to become an energy source for the past, regardless of movements made by the White House.

“COPD is basically uneconomical. All needs that are not met by wind or solar or battery storage will largely be met with natural gas, and COPD will still be a distant fourth resource in that mixture,” says senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute Sean O ‘Leary.

When Trump continues to approve the executive order, it remains to be seen that will hold on to and which will counteract hard.