"22 October 2004 - Coal fired generators will have a greater role in 2012 while the status of gas turbines will diminish, claims a report published by the McIlvaine Company.
..
World coal fired capacity is forecast to increase from the present 1200 GW to 1450 GW in 2012 whereas gas turbine capacity is forecast to increase from 649 GW this year to 900 GW. However, most coal fired plants will be base loaded while many gas turbine plants will operate only at peak hours."
http://pepei.pennnet.com/articles/article_display.cfm?Section=ONART&Category=INDUS&PUBLICATION_ID=6&ARTICLE_ID=214262

So they predict that 250 GW of power generation by coal use will be added in the 8 years.

"Nuclear power plants provide about 17 percent of the world's electricity....
There are more than 400 nuclear power plants around the world, with more than 100 in the United States."
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm

"A 100 watt light bulb that ran continuously for an entire year would consume 876 kWh. Producing the necessary electricity would require 876 lbs. of coal, 377-324 lbs. of natural gas, 508 lbs. of oil, or 0.0007 lbs. of Uranium enriched to 4% for use in a commercial nuclear reactor."
http://www.nei.org/doc.asp?catnum=2&catid=106
And:
"Vermont, in 2005, generated the greatest percentage of its electricity from nuclear energy of any state: 72 percent. New Jersey and South Carolina generated more than half of their electricity from nuclear energy in 2005. "
And:
"In 2005, U.S. nuclear power plants prevented 3.32 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 1.05 million tons of nitrogen oxide, and 681.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the earth’s atmosphere."

"Electricity consumption by 107 million U.S. households in 2001 totaled 1,140 billion kWh. The most significant end uses were central air-conditioning and refrigerators, each of which accounted for about 14 percent of the U.S. total."
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/reps/enduse/er01_us.html

So just for residential: 1,140 billion kWh divide by 107 million equals 10,654 kwh per year per household. If coal is used to generated this it requires burning 10,654 lbs of coal [5 tons]. If you live in area where 100% of electrical power came from nuclear energy you would consume less than 7.5 lbs of nuclear fuel. This nuclear is dense material, so in terms of volume it's about the size of a pack of cigarettes whereas the volume of 5 tons of coal is about size of your dining table from floor to the ceiling. So, considering people use this much coal or wood just to keep warm and cook meals [or least this much] we using energy more efficently now then in the past. Anyhow:
"Calculate the amount of CO2 (in tons) emitted to the atmosphere only from the coal burned in the West Campus Steam Plant last year (Coal contains 85% wt carbon. Assume that all the carbon in coal is converted to CO2 by combustion. One ton of carbon produces 3.67 tons of CO2 upon combustion."
http://www.ems.psu.edu/~eser/EGEE101/HW2.html
A ton coal produces 3.12 tons of CO2, 5 tons: 15.6 tons CO2. Anyhow the residents of Vermont are putting significant less CO2 in the atmosphere than residents of other states.