The economics of solar are good news. Hopefully we've hit an inflection point where coal power is no longer economical [1]
[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-elec...
[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-elec...
The problem is that developing countries like China and India are so desperately short of electricity (growth in demand is so high) that any new builds just add to existing production rather than replacing it. - Governments will prop up uneconomic generators to maintain total supply.
I don't know how to scale up PV and wind quickly enough to just replace coal in this situation.
Edit: the Chinese experiments with thorium molten salt and pebble-bed high temperature fission reactors are interesting here.
If they can easily swap out coal furnaces with nuclear reactors and retain the other 80% of the power stations, they'll get great benefits in air quality and and emissions while making use of of their investment in thermal generation.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/265491/chinese-coal-cons...
[1] https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/C...
In my opinion, anything that creates a profit motive for imprisonment and recidivism is an incentive recipe for disaster. So even if justly incarcerated I would probably say no?
But regardless, I don't think assuming just incarceration in China is a great idea.
e.g. [0], "Forced Labor The PRC government has pressured large numbers of Uyghurs, including former detainees, into accepting employment in the formal workforce, particularly in the textile, apparel, agricultural, consumer electronics, and other labor-intensive industries, in Xinjiang and other provinces. Uyghurs who refuse to accept such employment may be threatened with detention. Some factories utilizing Uyghur labor reportedly are tied to global supply chains. Factory employment often involves heavy surveillance and political indoctrination of Uyghurs."