The coal paradox

Obeng-Odoom, F

The coal paradox

Obeng-Odoom, F

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Publisher:: Ben-gurion University of the Negev Press
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Geography Research Forum, 2017, 37 (December), pp. 110 - 126
Issue Date:: 2017-12-15

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Obeng-Odoom, F https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3997-7751	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-12-15	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Geography Research Forum, 2017, 37 (December), pp. 110 - 126	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0333-5275	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121329
dc.description.abstract	The analytical foundations of the debate about coal mining in Africa tend to be buried or sacrificed for the advocacy of certain policy choices centred on unhelpful binaries: ‘no coal’ or ‘more coal’. Attempts to bridge the polarised positions – often centred on the development of renewables - contradictory because they seem to accept that both positions are accurate. Dissatisfied with these three positions, this paper revisits the coal question by seeking to develop W.S. Jevons’path-breaking treatise, The Coal Question (1906), as an analytical critique of, and alternative to, the existing state of knowledge. Jevons’ work is insightful but incomplete becauseit is weak in its grasp of property relations in the coal industry which, in the case of Africa, are highly monopolistic. A stronger framework must view as nested the analysis of the relationship between coal and technology, the implications of the historical development of energy for the current interest in renewables and, the relationship between ecological and economic questions.	en_US
dc.publisher	Ben-gurion University of the Negev Press	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Geography Research Forum	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Geography	en_US
dc.title	The coal paradox	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	December	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	37	en_US
utslib.for	1604 Human Geography	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Built Environment
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCDP - Contemporary Design Practice
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	false	en_US
pubs.issue	December	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	37	en_US

Abstract:

The analytical foundations of the debate about coal mining in Africa tend to be buried or sacrificed for the advocacy of certain policy choices centred on unhelpful binaries: ‘no coal’ or ‘more coal’. Attempts to bridge the polarised positions – often centred on the development of renewables - contradictory because they seem to accept that both positions are accurate. Dissatisfied with these three positions, this paper revisits the coal question by seeking to develop W.S. Jevons’path-breaking treatise, The Coal Question (1906), as an analytical critique of, and alternative to, the existing state of knowledge. Jevons’ work is insightful but incomplete becauseit is weak in its grasp of property relations in the coal industry which, in the case of Africa, are highly monopolistic. A stronger framework must view as nested the analysis of the relationship between coal and technology, the implications of the historical development of energy for the current interest in renewables and, the relationship between ecological and economic questions.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121329