ABSTRACT
Growth in the use of fossil fuels in 1998 fell to the lowest rates since the early 1990s. (See Figure 1.) Use of oil increased by a meager 0.8 percent in 1998, while coal use actually fell 2.5 percent. 1 With China's coal burning now declining, along with that of most industrial countries, use of coal—the most environmentally damaging fossil fuel—is likely near its historical peak.
