billy, it's obvious that many people with pathological hatred of coal have forgotten that technology has overcome one of the earlier problems of coal combustion, ie. SO2 emissions. In fact the reduction of SO2 emissions was so successful that farmland that had benefitted from the input of sulphur into their pastures from the acid rain had to increase the direct application of sulphur to make up for it in order to maintain production. Combustion engineers working with coal have made big advances in recent years in improving the combustion efficiency of coal, similar to what has been made in improving the fuel efficiency of present day motor vehicles as compared to a decade ago.
If the zealots were really serious about this issue they would be cutting back on their own use of electricity to the point that life becomes a bit inconvenient.The savings that can be made here would be in the order of the improvements made so far in combustion efficiency. But given that people like Al Gore fails to lead by example, it's hardly likely that any of his followers even think about such measures.
Perhaps the said zealots should pull out their old electricity accounts for the past few years and consider whether their consumption now is considerably lower than those of a few years ago or not. If they are not, then they should shut up and stop being so hypocritical because once the basic requirements are satisfied the level of power consumption is directly related to the level of convenience desired. Instead sign up to buy their electricity from one of the "green power" suppliers then continue their convenient and wasteful use of electricity having convinced themselves that they are now actually saving the planet. It is the height of hypocriscy to condemn people in 3rd world countries to a life without access to cheap electricity when their own use of electricity is based not on providing a basic necessity, but to provide a level of comfort and convenience consumate with the lifestyle they believe that are so entitled to.
