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This is not a problem in a rich country, in fact I don't understand why America is still on coal. Perhaps fund some modern-age infrastructure improvements as a

This is not a problem in a rich country, in fact I don't understand why America is still on coal. Perhaps fund some modern-age infrastructure improvements as a part of fiscal stimulus in the next economic downturn? Think about developing countries where people could not afford to improve their infrastructure. That's the real deal.

javagram 7y ago
Germany is still on coal too. They’re planning to shut them down by 2038... Rich country or not, people want cheap electricity and until fracking unlocked cheap natural gas in the US, coal was the cheap option.
- makomk 7y ago
  Germany is using brown coal or lignite, too, which is a lot nastier in every respect than the black coal we more usually think of. It produces more air pollution of every kind including CO2 to generate the same amount of power. They're also gradually destroying one of their few remaining ancient forests to strip-mine the land beneath it for lignite.
Nasrudith 7y ago
The original sin for why they are still trying coal is likely the attempt at confederation in doing this state level - which has the end result of vastly disproportionate power to parochial interests which under any sane system would be told to piss off and get a sense of priorities. I am no expert in Australian politics beyond the mindbogglingly stupid IT decisions but I have heard of similar reasons behind their own bad decisions. The main reason they infrastructure is currently on coal is ironically because they did invest in infrastructure in the past and those decisions are usually best done in advance as funding is spread out over vast periods of time. Needless to say the infastructure became outdated and the advancement wasn't quite as graceful like telecom companies who could make an outright profit during an upgrade by laying down some fiber and ripping out and selling all of their old copper. They do have a counterpart in many cases of 'burn natural gas instead to save money and do it cleaner'.
t0ddbonzalez 7y ago
Australia's doubling down on coal production, with a new mine approved in the Galilee Basin. Go figure. https://www.channel4.com/news/how-coal-mining-threatens-australias-great-barrier-reef https://www.channel4.com/news/how-coal-mining-threatens-aust...

javagram 7y ago

Germany is still on coal too. They’re planning to shut them down by 2038... Rich country or not, people want cheap electricity and until fracking unlocked cheap natural gas in the US, coal was the cheap option.

makomk 7y ago
Germany is using brown coal or lignite, too, which is a lot nastier in every respect than the black coal we more usually think of. It produces more air pollution of every kind including CO2 to generate the same amount of power. They're also gradually destroying one of their few remaining ancient forests to strip-mine the land beneath it for lignite.

Nasrudith 7y ago

The original sin for why they are still trying coal is likely the attempt at confederation in doing this state level - which has the end result of vastly disproportionate power to parochial interests which under any sane system would be told to piss off and get a sense of priorities. I am no expert in Australian politics beyond the mindbogglingly stupid IT decisions but I have heard of similar reasons behind their own bad decisions. The main reason they infrastructure is currently on coal is ironically because they did invest in infrastructure in the past and those decisions are usually best done in advance as funding is spread out over vast periods of time. Needless to say the infastructure became outdated and the advancement wasn't quite as graceful like telecom companies who could make an outright profit during an upgrade by laying down some fiber and ripping out and selling all of their old copper. They do have a counterpart in many cases of 'burn natural gas instead to save money and do it cleaner'.

t0ddbonzalez 7y ago

Australia's doubling down on coal production, with a new mine approved in the Galilee Basin. Go figure. https://www.channel4.com/news/how-coal-mining-threatens-australias-great-barrier-reef https://www.channel4.com/news/how-coal-mining-threatens-aust...