Nobody needs reminding that this has been a hot, hot summer, and many people are leaning on air conditioning to help get through it. According to new federal data from the Energy Information Administration, much of the electricity to power AC is coming from natural gas and renewables, including wind and solar, while coal continues to decline as a source. That’s a little strange given the Trump administration's efforts to boost coal and de-emphasize renewables. At a February press conference for an executive order prioritizing coal as a source of electricity, President Donald Trump liked to say “clean, beautiful coal.” But so far, that’s not reflected in the numbers.“It’s really about economics,” said Mike O’Boyle, senior director of policy and strategy with the think tank Energy Innovation. “Coal is competing against newer, cheaper technologies: renewable energy, natural gas.”Natural gas surpassed coal in energy production for the first time 11 years ago. Wind and solar did the same in 2024. Stanley Reynolds, economics professor at the University of Arizona, said solar is relatively inexpensive. “Even as some of the subsidies and tax credits are being phased out, solar is still quite competitive,” he said.Price point aside, coal has an infrastructure problem. Rob Godby, economics professor at the University of Wyoming, said coal power plants are persisting narrowly. “They’re just old and they’re not dependable,” he said.The Trump administration’s answer has been to build new ones, but we’ve yet to see a utility commit to that. “Political cycles kind of go in in four year cycles and so on, whereas utilities make their investment decisions over 30- to 40-year timeframes,” Godby said.As power demand grows, he said utilities want to invest in technology that’s affordable, flexible, and future-proof. “Coal just doesn’t win on any of those three fronts,” he said.Both Godby and the Energy Information Administration expect natural gas and renewables to keep building their lead over coal next year.