See: https://www.hubs.com/explore/ec/F3017B1A-81EE-4533-9B8D-12641E08B65D
Only 7.5% of electricity in France comes from fossil fuel, so this is not so difficult for them: https://instituteforenergyresearch.org/analysis/france-germany-turn-coal/ I expect they can install enough solar and wind to make up for it by 2021. I am sure they could install enough natural gas generators. In the U.S. and China, coal consumption is way down. Coal is back to level it was in 1980, 15 quads, after peaking around 22 quads in 2009. It is still falling rapidly. See: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=33712# You can see the exact numbers by moving the cursor on the lines on this graph. For 2016, it shows coal at 14.2 quads, versus 10.1 quads for renewables (including hydroelectricity, which I believe they convert with some kind of fudge factor). https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/browser/index.php?tbl=T01.03#/?f=A&start=1949&end=2016&charted=1-2-3-5-12 You can change the display data categories, range of dates, and type of graph here to show all kinds of nifty stuff. - Jed
