Coal must clean up its act

Coal has to clean up its act if it is to have a future as an energy source. This is the warning issued by Friends of the Earth Cymru on the day that Tower Colliery closes and miners move to a new future at Aberpergwm mine in the Neath valley.

As emissions from burning coal are a major cause of climate change, new coal-fired power stations should only be allowed if they achieve very high levels of efficiency. According to Friends of the Earth Cymru, far more should also be done to try to capture and bury the carbon dioxide that is produced.

Over 70 per cent of the coal used in the UK is imported. If Welsh coal were to replace some of these imports, it could provide a lifeline to the coal industry. But for coal-fired power stations to have any future, far cleaner technologies must be developed and implemented. Without these technologies, Friends of the Earth Cymru believes that Aberthaw power station, which uses Welsh coal and is the main single source of climate changing gases in Wales, only has a limited future.

Friends of the Earth Cymru Director, Gordon James, said:

"We are concerned that politicians, such as Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, are predicting a "renaissance of the coal industry in Wales"[1] without spelling out the dangers and insisting that coal-fired power stations must clean up their act.

"Coal is a filthy fuel and a major contributor to climate change. The main reason that carbon dioxide emissions globally and in the UK have been rising in recent years is the increased use of coal for electricity generation [2].

"If Welsh coal replaced some of the 70 per cent of the UK's coal currently imported, it could provide a lifeline to the industry. But for coal-fired power stations to have any future in the UK, we must use the best of the new technologies.

"The Aberthaw power station, which burns much of the Welsh coal produced, is a dirty dinosaur that has just come top of the list of polluters in Wales [3]. Its carbon dioxide emissions in 2006 rose to over seven million tonnes, a figure that could rise to eleven million tonnes as output is predicted to increase in the future.

"Yet a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) coal-fired power station in Denmark [4] has achieved efficiencies of over 90 per cent by using cleaner technologies and using the waste heat. In Teeside, a company is proposing to gasify the coal and bury the carbon dioxide emitted in old oil and gas wells in the North Sea.

"It is only by using and developing these technologies in the UK that the Welsh coal industry can have a future.

"Our concern is that politicians are talking up a bright future for a very dirty fuel [5] before solving the problem of carbon dioxide emissions. As scientists increasingly warn of the dire consequences for civilization if we fail to make major cuts in our emissions, efforts to achieve cuts in the UK could be undermined by failing to embrace the best technologies for burning coal."

Notes

1. Western Mail January 19th 2008


2. 85 per cent of coal in the UK is used for electricity generation - The Digest of UK Energy Statistics from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform


3. Based on information from the Environment Agency's Pollution Inventory


4. See www.bwe.dk/pdf/case-10%20FV07.pdf (PDF†) for information on the 350MW coal-fired CHP power station at Odense in Denmark that achieves over 90% efficiency


5. In addition to Peter Hain's comment in Note 1, the Government's White Paper on Energy, 'Meeting the Energy Challenge' [para 4.07, page 107] states that the government intends to "maximise economic recovery from remaining coal reserves". Notes from the first meeting of the UK Coal Forum stated that there are "£20 billion of new coal-fired power stations planned to be built in the UK before 2020" - see www.berr.gov.uk/files/file37293.pdf (PDF†)