According to the Financial Times, Germany coal use is at its highest levels since 1990. This is despite the fact that renewables (including solar and wind) have ramped up significantly in the past decade. On June 9, 2014, Germany generated for the first time over %50 of the electricity demand from solar. In the past year, 147bn kWh was generated from renewable sources. The argument for the increase in coal use stems from the fact that German chancellor Angele Merkel decided to phase out nuclear power which left an energy gap that only coal or fossil fuels could quickly meet. It was announced on May 30,2011 that Germany would close all nuclear plants by 2022 per the New York Times in an anti-nuclear response to the Fukushima disaster.
A global look at energy sources indicates the energy load has been rising worldwide since 1965 along with corresponding increases in energy for coal and all other sources. Use of fossil fuels including coal has grown fastest worldwide.
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