Fire it up.
Via Daily Caller:
Developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America face the uphill task of reducing mortality due to diseases, many caused by poor hygiene and other localized pollution concerns accompanying poverty.
Poor communities are constantly exposed to diseases caused by poor hygiene and lack of basic facilities like latrines, sewers and sewage treatment plants, and purified water supply. Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, water borne diseases like diarrhea, and others are common among people who live in areas with extremely poor hygiene.
Households suffer from poor domestic air quality due to open-hearth wood and coal burning for cooking and heating. Lack of electricity and natural gas can restrict the provision of adequate water and hamper the use of modern household equipment like cooking stoves and electric motors.
Historically, coal-powered energy has played a pivotal role in helping these nations improve their healthcare facilities to support and sustain their expanding populations.
A recently released critique of a report in The Lancet reaffirms the indispensable role of coal-powered electricity in improving healthcare in poor communities.
Coal is the cheapest and most abundant energy source in the world’s two largest developing countries, India and China, with combined population near 2.7 billion. In both these countries, coal-powered electricity has helped achieve reliable and affordable uninterrupted power supplies.
Many people in wealthy countries consider coal a dirty fuel. On the contrary, used to generate electricity it is much cleaner than wood and other biomass, and the economic and civic benefits of electricity generated from it have helped improve domestic air and water quality, preventing millions of deaths.