In this part of the northeastern Czech Republic, huge piles of coal are stacked up ready to sell to eager buyers, and smoke belches from coal-fired plants that are ramping up instead of winding down.
Ostrava has been working for decades to end its legacy as the most polluted area of the country, transitioning from an industrial working-class stronghold to a modern city with tourist sights. [emphasis, links added]
But Russia’s war in Ukraine has triggered an energy crisis in Europe that has paved the way for coal’s comeback, endangering climate goals and threatening health from increased pollution.
Households and businesses are turning to the fuel once considered obsolete as they seek a cheaper option than natural gas, whose prices have surged as Russia slashed supplies to Europe.
Demand for brown coal – the cheapest and most energy-inefficient form – used by Czech households jumped by almost 35% in the first nine months of 2022 over a year earlier.
In the same period, production rose more than 20%, the first increase after an almost continuous, decadeslong decline, the Czech Industry and Trade Ministry said.
“We’re worried,” said Zdenka Nemecková Crkvenjas, who is responsible for the environment as a member of the governing council of the Moravian-Silesian region. “If the prices won’t go down, what might happen is that we’ll be facing increased pollution.”
The region is part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, a large industrialized area straddling the Czech-Polish border with rich deposits of coal and factories producing steel, power, and the type of coal used for steel-making that date to the 19th century.
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Africa has had similar problems during droughts. The bush dies back but humans still need to cook and stay warm at night. People will do what they must to survive the hot and the cold, regardless of what so-called climate change experts say. So as the bush dies, it goes into cooking fires.
The problems with coal power station emissions in the Silesian Basin could be fixed if they built new technology HELE power plants.
This is another case of elite idealism coming against reality.