I thought I had already explained why ? Have you read the whole thread ?
China needs power now to advance , not tomorrow . So coal and gas will get them there . But , at the same time they are installing a huge amount of renewables . As the renewables get better , they will take over from fossil .
Australia . We have a whole bunch of ageing coal fired plants that are due for replacement soon . We also have bipartison political support to reduce emissions .
So , the question is . What do we replace them with ? Obviously we can slip in some gas fired stuff ( already happening ) and maybe we can build a couple of Hele coal plants . But , at the same time we can install renewable technology as well . As we both know , it is improving very quickly and also getting much cheaper as well . The same can't be said for fossil fuels .
Maybe someone will come up with a technology that will trump renewables one day .
How long are we going to wait for that to happen ? Who's going to bother when we have got plenty of coal ? The smartest thing to do is keep moving forward . Renewables will certainly reduce the amount of coal we burn by a significant amount if not replace it altogether . As the third world modernises , it is going to burn more fossil fuel . We need a way to help mitigate that .
Coal and gas won't be wasted . It is still incredibly useful . We just won't burn it anymore .
