NOTE:
I'm not a coal fan.
40 years ago,
I took a ride
on an antique
coal powered train,
and I almost
suffocated when
the black smoke
blew inside the car,
in my face, through
the open windows.
Back then I assumed
coal would have been
completely replaced
by nuclear power today,
as was done in France
in earlier decades.
I'm surprised so much
coal is still burned
especially after fracking
opened up new natural
gas supplies and
significantly lowered
the price.
My only interest in coal
now is looking for a big
chunk of coal -- maybe
ten pounds -- for my
wife's rock and shell
garden in front of
our house.
If wealthy nations wanted
to reduce the use of coal,
they ought to start by
helping prevent the need
for new coal power stations.
China is building lots
of them, but dictatorships
are not good at taking advice.
Now Africa is starting
a huge expansion
of power stations,
most of which
will burn coal.
The picture below
shows an offshore
"power plant ship",
similar to the ones
moored in Ghana,
Sierra Leone and
Mozambique.
Many European
countries, such as
the UK and Germany,
are decreasing their
dependence on coal.
But Africa is different.
Many people rely on
the use of standby
diesel generators
to supplement erratic
electricity supplies,
leading to local
air pollution, and
high CO2 emissions.
Based on real science,
I'm confident
that adding CO2
to the atmosphere is
good news for our planet,
based on thousands of
scientific experiments
on plant growth,
but adding more CO2
is never good news
when it is produced without
modern pollution controls.
And backup diesel generators
are about as far from modern
pollution controls as you
could get.
Africa has plenty of sun
for solar energy, and
windy portions that
ought to be good for
wind power.
What Africa lacks is money.
So instead of solar and
wind power, they are going
with cheaper fossil fuels.
More than 200 new
power stations
are now planned,
and most of them
will burn coal.
Power ships
– floating power
stations, will
increase to.
Some are burning
a highly polluting,
not very refined
heating oil,
that they call
"bunker oil".
Unfortunately,
African nations
don't have much
air quality
legislation,
and even
where they do,
enforcement
is poor.
If there was ever
a good test area
for solar power,
it would be in Africa
... if the wealthy nations
were interested in charity.
Otherwise, Africa builds
lots more coal power plants.