Coal

The well being of any society is directly dependent on the availability of electricity and many countries are without this clean source of power. There are two billion people, mostly living in Africa, that still use wood as fuel for cooking and heating. For many villages the use of wood and dung for cooking is filling their huts with carcinogens and other particles that cause respiratory problems. It is difficult for people in the Western world to understand the situation in these small villages. If they had an electric pump powered by a diesel generator they could pump water up hill to a holding tank and have fresh water for cooking and cleaning. A clean body means fewer mites, lice and other disease causing bugs. It also allows for a septic tank system which cuts down on the common diseases like cholera and dysentery. These villages have 500 to 1000 people and ten gallons of diesel would provide water for a month. One semi would use that much fuel going from MPLS to Rochester.