The coal option

Richard Uku writes about a low-cost solution to the power problem in the Guardian:

...resources like fuel oil, diesel, light crude, solar, and gas are available as means of electricity generation, but their costs are all quite prohibitive.
These factors make a good argument for coal as a cheap alternative source of Africa's power. Coal has historically played a crucial role as a source of energy worldwide, and has several important advantages over other fossil fuels. First is its relative abundance. The current level of proven coal reserves worldwide stands at roughly 850 billion tons. Africa has about 50 billion tons. Coal is also much more widely distributed geographically than any other fossil fuel...[continue reading]