There is a good piece by the dreaded Bjorn Lomborg inside the back cover of the Fin today. Coal will lift Africa out of poverty. (I think it is poverty, had to photograph the piece in sections and missed some of the byline). It is a discussion of the role of renewables versus king coal for the downtrodden of the earth. The greens must be very proud of their African brethren who obtain no less than 80% of their energy from renewable, mostly wood and also animal dung and crop residues. Pity about deforestation and lethal indoor air pollution.

Westerners use 11,000 kW-hours per person per annum while the number in the sub-Sahara is 137, enough to run your household refrigerator for 4 months. 600 million have no electricity at all.

The International Energy Agency says by 2040 solar in the sub-Sahara will provide 14 kW h per person per annum, almost sustaining a 2-watt LED globe. So it will charge mobile phones and virtually nothing else. That is an extreme form of energy poverty and there is no way to overcome it without using fossil fuels, nuclear power and some hydro where possible.

The IEA has a scenario for the “African Century” which calls for $US 450 billion invested in energy, mostly fossil fuels, replacing the deadly renewables, giving power to 250 million more people and providing 2 billion with an increase in GDP of 30% or almost $US 1000 per person per year.

Of course there is a downside from the green point of view. All that extra carbon and air pollution as well! Those of us who have got over the war on CO2 will not be concerned about the carbon. He cites the estimated cost of the standard “old fashioned” air pollution at $30 billion, which is trivial compared with the overall investment and the benefits.