You’re really discounting that fossil fuels have hella bang for the buck, loads of power per gallon. tl;dr: Energy dense

Coal is generally the worst of the lot. Oil and gas burn cleaner and have more combustible by weight. Coal is energy dense but also heavy af and dirty as hell. It’s also very common place and compatibly safe to transport and simple to use.

Fine enough to warm your home or grill some meat. But you’re not putting a rocket into orbit with coal.