Flue Gas desulfurization was first theorized in the United Kingdom in the 1850s. It is used to scrub
sulfur dioxide from the exhaust gasses of power stations burning sulfurous coal and petroleum, reducing impacts on human health and the environment (sulfur dioxide contributes greatly to acid rain and potentially ocean acidification). Although it's more associated with the 1970s and 1980s, flue gas desulfurization was actually implemented on three British power stations in the 1930s, including
Battersea. However, World War II disrupted development of the technology, and it wasn't until the 1970s and 1980s that it was commonly used again.
Earlier adoption of flue gas desulfurization would have quite a few implications for both the United Kingdom and United States. Both countries were heavily reliant on coal and were early adopters of air pollution laws. Air pollution around London was almost like modern Beijing, and in December 1952 thousands of people died in the
Great Smog, leading to the passage of the
Clean Air Act of 1956. The United States passed its own
Clean Air Act in 1963.
There are obviously significant health and environmental improvements that could be realized in both countries. It could also make coal more competitive if flue gas desulfurization becomes common before the 1970s, when electricity consumption was growing at nearly 7% per year. The technology could become a standard piece of coal power station equipment, and develop economies of scale. Because flue gas desulfurization wasn't well developed until the 1970s, the early systems were expensive and entered a stagnant electricity market. Companies also chose to use nuclear and petroleum for power generation because coal emissions simply couldn't be cleaned up.
I know it's a small and somewhat obscure PoD, but if this had occurred could the world end up in an odd situation in which there is more coal consumption but less health and environmental impacts from it? Could earlier adoption lead to economies scale such that even developing nations build facilities with flue gas desulfurization?