Electrifying Africa and the Hopes for Clean Energy

The good news is that the U.S. wishes to play a major role in bringing electrical power to 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.  Apparently the reason is international relations on a grand scale; if we don’t do it, China will, and we don’t want to further empower the Chinese.   (Obviously, a better reason would be improving the quality of life for the poorest of the poor, reducing deforestation, and, via educating women, reducing the fertility rate and population growth.) 

Be this as it may, here’s the bad news:  the energy resources at stake here are not necessarily renewable.  If we wind up with another continent full of coal-fired power plants, the result in terms of the environment will be disastrous.