Coal, the catalyst of the industrial age, is now poised to shape how the world consumes energy in the twenty-?rst century. The ascendance of oil in the global economy to a looming peak is forcing countries, companies, and consumers to reconsider their relationship to something they cannot live without: energy. And whileothersourcesofenergy, suchasnuclear, naturalgas, andrenewables, willall play an ever greater role in serving demand, intelligent observers would be wise not to miss what is perhaps the clearest trend of all: the second coal era is now uponus. Thedevelopingworldisrapidlyelectrifyinginordertodriveeconomicgrowth. Andelectri?cationmeanscoal. ThisisparticularlytrueinIndiaandChina, where coaloffersthecheapestandmostreliableroutetoelectricpower. Thesetwoco- triesalonewilldrive80%ofcoalconsumptiongrowthto2030. TheInternational EnergyAgencyexpectsthatglobalcoalconsumptionwillincreaseby60%inthe nexttwodecades. LarsSchernikau sTheRenaissanceofSteamCoalcouldnotcome atabettertime. Lars skillintracingthelongarcofindustrialevolutionpairedwith his acute knowledge of the coal market make his arguments both insightful and highlycredible. Hebeginsbysuccinctlyframingtheproblemanddistillingourc- rentpredicament: wearecaughtbetween theOilAge andthe theSolarAge (by thishemeanstheageofrenewables). Wearealloptimiststosomedegree, butthe realistsamongusknowthatrenewableenergyisnotgoingtocompletely?llthis gapfordecades. Where, then, doesthisleaveus?ItleavesuswithTheRenaissance ofSteamCoal. Coal is now the world s fastest growing source of fossil fuel, a position it is expected to hold for the foreseeable future. Yet the coal market is far less well understoodthantheoilorgasmarkets. Academics, policymakers, andmarketp- ticipantsarefacedwiththeprospectofourcollectiveknowledgeaboutthismarket notkeepingpacewithitsincreasingrelevance. Coal, only30yearsagoalocalized fuelsource, isnowavolatileglobalcommoditywithbanksandhedgefundspiling intotheoncetraditionalbusiness. Notonlyisthecoalmarketnowmorerelevant thanever, it salsomuchmorecomplex. "