Shares of coal-mining outfit Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) closed Wednesday's session trading 11.7% higher, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, buoyed by soaring coal prices that confirm the dirty fossil fuel is still a cost-effective means of producing electricity.

Once presumed to be a fuel of the past, coal is back in vogue.

Blame high crude oil and natural gas prices, mostly. Although the costs of both have peeled back from their June highs, neither central governments nor utility companies are completely convinced their prices won't soar again. That's why both are reopening their minds to coal, despite its adverse environmental impact. German power producers are paying premiums for coal, for instance. They used it to produce nearly 30% of the country's power during the first half of the year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- and the world's response to it -- disrupted Germany's natural gas supply. China imported more Russian coal in August than it has at any point in the past five years. South Korea is burning more of it too, as are many other countries.

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Source Fool.com