King Coal is refusing to die and, without a significant breakthrough in technology, the biggest energy future winner looks certain to be gas. Even in Europe, where public and government determination to reduce carbon emissions is the strongest in the world, coal may well be in long-term decline but it has made a remarkable short-term comeback. Figures released yesterday by the British government showed that Britain used more coal for power generation in February than in any month since 2009, and the least gas of any month for 14 years. In Germany, power companies are building 11 new coal-burning plants, including the world’s largest lignite or brown coal plant, a 2.1GW giant at Neurath. The rush to coal and gas has been accelerated by a new crisis in the nuclear industry following the Fukushima disaster in Japan. The recent surge in coal consumption in Britain and some other parts of Europe has several causes, the simplest of which is that coal is a lot cheaper than gas. The European economic crisis has helped to produce record low prices in the EU’s emission trading system, the world’s largest carbon market, reducing the cost penalty of burning coal.