Eskom talks 'clean coal'/gobbledygook

SHOOT: It took South Africa's president a while to understand that HIV causes AIDS [perhaps Mbeki still needs convincing]. His belief, as I recall, was based on the rumor that poverty causes AIDS. Underground coal gasification is a similar rumor. There is no such thing as 'clean coal' technology. It's as absurd a notion as a clean cigarette.

REUTERS: Lennon said Eskom was designing a 42-megawatt pilot plant to test a technology to gasify deep coal deposits underground and feed the gas into a combined cycle gas turbine. It then plans to scale up the project to a 2,100 MW plant.

"A full-scale (2,100 MW) plant, everything going well, could be running around 2015-16," he said.

SHOOT: Good luck with that. Much better to invest in nuclear. It has hazards, yes, but at least it's based on tried and tested technology, and it's renewable. Why are we still building coal powered plants, the most polluting of the lot?

clipped from af.reuters.com JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's power utility Eskom expects to move more rapidly next year into renewable energy from solar and wind sources and to also tap cleaner coal technologies to reduce its carbon footprint, an official said. Eskom relies on coal for 90 percent of its power generation, but has vowed to invest in renewable energy and more efficient coal technologies to help improve the carbon record of South Africa, now the world's 12th largest polluter. While South Africa will depend on coal for some time to come, Eskom plans to replace old plants, which it will start decomissioning from 2025, with more efficient technologies to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, now at 230 million tonnes. Eskom has long been investing in cheap and reliable plants based on coal, but Lennon said the cost of a kilowatt hour from underground coal gasification could be as cheap or even cheaper. Continued...

Ag - Sorry for the Gemors

...a friend of mine wryly commented: throw a cigarette out of your car which causes a fire on Table Mountain and you can end up in jail for two years, mess up the entire economy for the country by making a gemors with its electricity and all you have to say is sorry... - roughly quoted from a national newspaper

The problem when there is a gemors is we all moan and groan - and it's good that we do, but the most important thing is to then take our moaning and groaning somewhere. Pick up the phone and get the moaning and groaning answered, so that some lazy bum who should have known better finds him or herself in jail, moaning and groaning.

Here'a good example. You spot a pothole. What do you do? Simple if you live in Joburg. You call the Joburg Roads Agency at 011 375 5555. I got this number because the Road Agency themselves placed an ad, and presented a manifesto: we have 'a responsibility amongst others to manage...the infrastructure of Johannesburg...' That's their job. We can help them do their job. Same goes for Eskom and government. Participatory government, government working with citizens, not apparently on their behalf or 'for' them, but directly and interactively connected to the community and helping to resolve their needs.