Team Trump tries to spread the crazy abroad
billmckibben.substack.com
This week's gambit: Africa should rely on...coal.

Context:

[US Energy Secretary] Mr. Wright said Africa simply needed more energy of all kinds, including and even especially coal, one of the most polluting fossil fuels.

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
    51·
    1 day ago

    A meme repeated in Africa is “US and British come to lecture us. China builds hospitals”. Legalizing bribery is a path for US privatization of energy boondoggles on the continent. Bribes always cheapest way to corrupt economics.

    Africa has fantastic solar resources, but more importantly, does not have established monopolies that make home/community solar expensive in US. The cost of a western built coal plant, and electricity transmission/distribution in Africa is high. Importing coal also higher there due to less infrastructure. Coal prices rose to extortionist levels from war on Russia, and extortionist LNG prices in Europe.

    Even if you want to build a utility scale power plant in Africa, solar and batteries are cheaper than coal, and dependence on coal/fossil fuel supplies and price fluctuations. African grid reliability is poor largely because fuel supplies are already unreliable. Trump/US saying that Africa selling cocoa and coffee that no one else can grow is taking advantage of US with upcoming tariffs, would make it clear corruption to submit more strongly to US. The decolonization of Africa moves that have taken place the last 2 years as the west devolves to irrelevance, is not something that will likely be reversed… depending on those bribery levels.

  • wwb4itcgas@lemm.eeEnglish
    28·
    2 days ago

    Yes, clearly solar power has no place on a continent spanning the equator that happens to have nine deserts. That’s crazy talk. /s

        • federal reverse@feddit.org
          3·
          1 day ago

          In Görmany vee haev a zaying: “At night, it is colder zan it is outside” and I zink zat’s beautifull.

          We also have the handy term Dunkelflaute / dark doldrums, (honestly sounds a lot better in English) for when our uncle Karl-Heinz needs to schwurbel / spout conspiracy bullshit concerning volatile solar/wind Zitterstrom / quivering power at a family festivity that we sadly can’t just leave, for fear of upsetting mom and grandma Helga.