Thursday, September 28, 2017

South Korea to close coal power stations

Seoul’s Namsan Tower is blanketed in thick smoke (Source: Korea Herald)



They're not doing it because of global warming:

South Korea’s environmental authorities on Tuesday unveiled a package of measures to tackle the worsening air pollution, including shutting down aged coal power plants and reducing pollutants from diesel vehicles and factories. 
The measures are aimed at helping reduce fine dust emissions by more than 30 percent by the end of President Moon Jae-in’s term in 2022, authorities said. 
Last year alone, the country’s dust levels were above 50 micrograms per cubic meter for 248 days. With the new package of measures, the government hopes to reduce the hazardous days to 78 days by 2022.  
The World Health Organization classified the fine particulates as first-degree carcinogens, which can penetrate into the respiratory system and trigger fatal illnesses like cancer. 
In the face of hazardous smog, cities and provinces have installed indoor sports facilities at schools and provided care centers for the elderly.

[read more here]

You have to ignore a lot of bad news to be optimistic about coal.  It's filthy to mine, filthy to burn, kills people, causes global warming, and is more expensive than most alternatives. And demand has been falling for three years.  The decline will continue.

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