That’s how the BBC sees it, based on a belief that trace amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are somehow a major problem. Fuel-burning power plants are clearly less costly and more productive than wind and solar options, but there’s a lot of pressure from climate obsessives not to build them, despite the obvious benefits.
The continent desperately needs more power but it also wants to avoid damaging the environment, says BBC News.
Africa is both the world’s least electrified continent and the most vulnerable to climate change.
And as the continent with the world’s fastest growing population, the decisions that African politicians make to boost power supplies could have an impact both locally and globally.
The conundrum is how to meet the demand for energy without making the climate situation worse.
There is a large amount of investment, much of it from overseas, going into renewable sources. But the continent also has untapped reserves of oil and natural gas, which it aims to exploit.
Africa’s largest power producer, South Africa, faces an additional dilemma of moving away from coal-fired power stations, which produce nearly all of its energy. It is one of the dirtiest fuels, and is damaging the health of some of the people living near where it is burnt.
More than two thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, more than 600 million people, lack access to electricity.
But electrification on the continent is still growing more slowly than anywhere else in the world, despite pledges to light up Africa in the next few decades.
Continued here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
February 26, 2020 at 04:18AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 