Donald Trump pumps coal as answer to AI power needs but any boost could be short-lived

President Donald Trump’s promise to go all in on fossil fuels includes praise for coal, a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been in decline. Trump this week suggested coal can help meet surging electricity demand from manufacturing and the massive data centres needed for artificial intelligence. “Nothing can destroy coal. Not the weather, not a bomb – nothing,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link Thursday. “And we have more coal than anybody.”

Yet energy experts say any bump for coal under Trump is…