PGF Plots compatible for black and white printing

Question

A plot I originally prepared using colors needs to be printed in a journal that only permits black and white graphics. My question is two-fold:

1. What is the best way to clearly make different graphs distinguishable?
2. How can I to this with PGF plots?

I searched through the manual of PGF plots but there seems to be no dedicated option "colors=bwonly" or something similar (maybe a convenient addition for future versions?).

For reference, here is my original graph:

\documentclass{minimal}

\usepackage{pgf,tikz}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.5.1}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    %small,
    ybar,%=8pt, % configures ‘bar shift’
    enlargelimits=0.15,
    ylabel={index},
    symbolic x coords={1982, 1990, 1999, 2006},
    %xtick=data,
    %tick label style={font=\footnotesize},
    legend style={at={(0.5,-0.15)},
    anchor=north,legend columns=-1},
    nodes near coords,
    %every node near coord/.style={font=\footnotesize},
    nodes near coords align={vertical},
    ]
\addplot coordinates {(1982, 1.78) (1990, 1.71) (1999, 1.68) (2006, 1.62)};
\addplot coordinates {(1982,  1.70) (1990, 1.62) (1999, 1.59) (2006, 1.64)};
\addplot coordinates {(1982, 2.04) (1990, 1.96) (1999, 1.95) (2006, 1.91)};
\legend{A, B, C}

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 1

You can define your own color list and line style list as explained in Section 4.6.7 in the pgfplots manual.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    ybar,
    enlargelimits=0.15,
    ylabel={index},
    symbolic x coords={1982, 1990, 1999, 2006},
    legend style={at={(0.5,-0.15)},
    anchor=north,legend columns=-1},
    nodes near coords,
    nodes near coords align={vertical},
    cycle list = {black,black!70,black!40,black!10}
    ]
\addplot+[] coordinates {(1982, 1.78) (1990, 1.71) (1999, 1.68) (2006, 1.62)};
\addplot+[fill,text=black] coordinates {(1982,  1.70) (1990, 1.62) (1999, 1.59) (2006, 1.64)};
\addplot+[fill,,text=black] coordinates {(1982, 2.04) (1990, 1.96) (1999, 1.95) (2006, 1.91)};
\legend{A, B, C}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}