“Coal is falling off the map as a percentage because so much other energy is being added on top. But we're using the most coal that we've ever used in history right now. So while it is a smaller percentage of the total, in absolute terms we haven't reduced coal consumption one iota.”
Energy News Beat · Climate & Energy · November 2026
Context
Sandridge was comparing two charts of the same global energy data, one by share and one in absolute terms. His point is that a falling percentage looks like a transition while total fossil use keeps rising. The figures are his own claims.
Transcript
…of our energy. Primary energy, coal was still king at that time. And so as oil and gas continued to grow, the percentage, now we're talking percentages only, the percentage of coal and the percentage of biomass continued to drop because of the influx of petroleum products, oil and natural gas. So
…a 60 hertz grid system in the United States. And we have to keep within nanoseconds of being able to remain stable. By adding a DC, you've got inverters for wind and solar that have another, they lose energy. So this is really about energy. It's not about oil and gas or whatever is. It's energy.
Yeah. So I think that I don't know if you can pull up that article, but the punchline of all of this is, let's pull up that article and let's scroll down. We'll come back and talk about nuclear and renewable eras real quickly after we look at this chart. But so, so stop right there. If you see that chart right there, right? What the what the untrained eye, what the average person sees when they see this chart is you see biofuels, biomass falling precipitously as a percentage, falling, falling, falling. It looks like it's trending towards zero. Coal, as you can see as time goes to the right, coal is falling, falling, falling precipitously as a percentage. Crude oil and natural gas, and now so wind and solar are displacing or being added to the system. But you would look at this and you would assume that biomass and coal and petroleum are all trending towards zero, trending towards a transition away. All right, we'll go scroll on down to the next slide. But what you don't realize is look at the same data in terms of terawatt hours of energy produced. And it's…
I love the way you articulate that because that chart right there brings it home. And here's where most people don't understand. I made a mistake. And I'm using, I've got a Grockbot team to help research my articles. My Grockbot is one, I got one Grock pot, Grockbot guy that is doing nothing but…
Yeah. I think if you're going to, if you're going to debate between building a nuclear power plant or a gas-fired plant or wind and solar, wind and solar should compete. Absolutely. But they need to compete on the same basis, meaning they need to provide the same reliability because you're not…
I'll tell you what, I appreciate you bringing that in because in my team of Grockbotta Onians or whatever you want to call these guys, they're actually hilarious. I'm having a lot of fun with these guys. AI can be very useful, but AI without accountability or validation is worthless. And so, oh…
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