Green light for carbon-capture power stations

The Government has given the green-light for a new generation of coal-fired power stations but insisted that they would be made to reduce their carbon emissions.

Ed Miliband, Energy Secretary, said that up to four new coal plants could be built before 2020, which he said was “important for our energy mix”.

However he said that at least a portion of each new power station must be fitted with the technology to trap and store their carbon dioxide underground.

His announcement to MPs followed a statement by Chancellor Alistair Darling that in his budget there would be funding for up to four projects which demonstrate the new carbon-capture technology.

Mr Miliband added later that a levy to raise money for fitting the carbon capture and storage technology (CCS), which has not yet been tested on a commercial scale, would add an estimated 2% on energy bills by 2020.

The new plants must show CCS on at least 300 MW output. If the technology works, the power stations would then have to have CCS fitted to cover 100% of their energy output by 2025.

The new “clean” plant scheme is “the most environmentally ambitious of any country in the world, and puts us in a world leadership position on CCS and coal” said the Environmental Secretary. He continued “there is no alternative to CCS if we are serious about fighting climate change and retaining a diverse mix of energy sources for our economy.”

The way that the CCS technology works is that it traps the carbon dioxide - the most common greenhouse gas - which is created when fossil fuels are burnt and stores it permanently underground.

CO2 output could be cut to 90% with this technology however it does reduce the efficiency of the plant due to the energy demands of trapping the carbon emissions.

Mr Miliband revealed that some of the coal that would power these plants would come from the UK, the rest imported from Russia. In 2008 coal power stations provided 31% of the UK’s electricity, with around a third of the coal coming from Russia.

Despite being the ‘grubbiest’ of fossil fuels, coal is expected to remain a widely-used source of energy because it is readily available, cheap and easy to extract, transport and store.

In a bid to tackle the climate emissions of coal, the Government is already running a competition to fund the building of one commercial scale, demonstration for a CCS plant, in which BP, E.ON, Peel Power and Scottish Power are the shortlisted candidates.

Now, the competition has been scaled up to as many as four power stations, while the new regulations revealed prevent any new coal plants being built without the CCS technology.

The hope is that the financial incentives and regulations together will ensure that the technology can be independently judged as economically and technically proven by 2020, with full installation then required within 5 years.

This announcement has been received favourably by unions who said that it had the potential to create thousands or jobs and avoid a shortfall in energy supply in the coming years.

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary said: “This announcement finally puts serious money and political will behind clean coal.”

“These proposals will place the UK at the forefront of the development of a technology and industry that can delivery deep cuts in carbon across the globe.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk

Waterways provide a flow of renewable energy

 

British Waterways has announced an agreement with The Small Hydro Company Ltd to generate 210,000 mega watt hours of renewable energy per annum using the public corporation’s 2,200 mile waterway network. The initiative will:

- invest around c.£120 million of private capital over the next three years;
- develop approximately 25 small-scale hydro electricity schemes generating enough power for c.40,000 homes;
- create 150 construction jobs;
- save an annual 110,000 tonnes of CO2.

Backed by Climate Change Capital’s Ventus Fund, the process of gaining consents for the first five hydro schemes alongside river weirs will begin later this month. The proposals will enhance waterway biodiversity as well as providing improved flood mitigation for local communities.

The partnership with The Small Hydro Company follows British Waterways’ announcement in October 2008, of an agreement with Partnerships for Renewables to bring forward wind turbines on canal-side land over the next five years – with annual capacity to generate 219,000 mega watt hours of renewable energy. Income that British Waterways generates from both initiatives will be reinvested towards maintaining the nation’s historic waterways.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband MP said: “By committing to build small hydro power stations and wind turbines, British Waterways is playing an important role in generating renewable energy from the UK’s natural resources. This will help cut carbon emissions and further secure energy supplies. We want even more homes, communities, businesses and public sector organisations to take action and play their part in tackling climate change. The Renewables Obligation already supports renewable electricity generation and from 2010 we’ll be introducing a feed-in tariff which will reward projects like this with guaranteed cash payments.”

Hilary Benn, Environment Secretary said: “Britain’s waterways were the arteries of our economy, providing transport and power. This scheme shows how with ingenuity and innovation they can once again deliver real economic, social, and environmental benefits, especially in tackling and adapting to climate change.”

The Small Hydro Company will now start a programme of community engagement alongside the process of seeking the necessary environmental and planning consents, with the aim of having the first schemes up and running in 2010 to help meet the government’s 2010 hydro renewable targets.

New LED lights to slash household electricity use

A new way of making LEDs could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75% in five years time, thanks to research at Cambridge University.

The new LEDs use Gallium Nitride (GaN), a man-made semiconductor that emits a brilliant bright light but uses very little electricity. Until now high production costs have made GaN lighting too expensive for widespread use in homes and offices.

The Cambridge University Centre for Gallium Nitride, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), has developed a new way of making GaN which could produce LEDs for a tenth of current prices.

The new technique grows GaN on silicon wafers, which achieves a 50% improvement in cost and efficiency on previous approaches to grow GaN in labs on expensive sapphire wafers, used since the 1990s.

Based on current results, GaN LED lights in every home and office could cut the proportion of UK electricity used for lights from 20% to 5%. A reduction equivalent to the output of eight power stations.

A GaN LED can burn for 100,000 hours and therefore, on average, only needs replacing after 60 years. And, unlike currently available energy-saving bulbs, GaN LEDs do not contain mercury eliminating the environmental problems posed by their disposal. GaN LEDs also have the advantage of turning on instantly and being dimmable.

Professor Colin Humphreys, lead scientist on the project said: “This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future. We are very close to achieving highly efficient, low cost white LEDs that can take the place of both traditional and currently available low-energy light bulbs. That won’t just be good news for the environment, it will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills.”

GaN LEDs, used to illuminate landmarks like Buckingham Palace and the Clifton Suspension Bridge, are also appearing in camera flashes, mobile phones, torches, bicycle lights and interior bus, train and plane lighting.

Parallel research is also being carried out into how GaN lights could mimic sunlight to help 3m people in the UK with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Ultraviolet rays made from GaN lighting could also aid water purification and disease control in developing countries, identify the spread of cancer tumours and help fight hospital ’super bugs’.

Motorists will have to drive electric cars for UK to meet climate change targets

Motorists will have to switch to electric cars if Britain is to meet its legally-binding commitment to cut carbon dioxide emissions, a Government report warns.

The Committee on Climate Change will recommend that large numbers of motorists must switch to the greener vehicles by 2025.

The influential Committee, headed by Lord Turner, sets out the major technological advances needed for Britain to meet its commitment of cutting emissions by 80 per cent to halt global warming.

Gordon Brown is a major advocate of electric cars and is likely to welcome the recommendation. He has already called for a million “green collar” jobs to be created in new environmentally-friendly industries. At the G8 summit in Japan last summer, Mr Brown’s wife was photographed test-driving green vehicles.

Today’s report is expected to say that Britain currently generates the equivalent of 10-12 tons of carbon dioxide annually per person - about 700m tons in total. This must be cut to two tons per person annually by 2050 - about 12 pounds per person each day.

However, a typical family car uses the total daily allowance driving just 25 miles. Therefore, it is not seen as feasible to meet the new targets without largely abandoning the internal combustion engine.

Last month, Professor Julia King, a Government adviser and member of the Climate Change committee, said: “In the long term, C02-free road transport fuel is the only way to decarbonise road transport. That means electric vehicles, with novel batteries charged by zero-carbon electricity or hydrogen produced from zero-carbon electricity”.

The Government is believed to favour so-called “plug-in hybrids” which run on electricity but also have small internal combustion engines.

Lord Turner’s report, called Building a Low Carbon Economy, will set out a series of five year “carbon budgets” to cover the period until 2022. These will set out how much carbon the country must cut in each period and the technological methods that will be required to achieve the reductions. Whitehall is set to lead the way with each minister given a target to reduce carbon emissions in their department.

The report is also expected to recommend a big increase in carbon capture - technology which stores carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of coal and gas by power stations.

The Government has already cut road taxes on electric cars sharply. However, Mr Brown has met widespread protests when attempting to increase taxes on so-called gas guzzlers and petrol. The Treasury recently watered-down plans to double the tax on some polluting family cars.

Photo courtesy of www.greenfleet.net

 

 

 

Environment Agency Chairman calls for ‘Green New Deal’ to create jobs and investment

The Environment Agency’s Chairman, Lord Chris Smith, today urged the Government to follow Barack Obama’s example and launch a ‘Green New Deal’ for the UK economy to drive investment in clean energy and create jobs.

He called on the Government to produce a comprehensive long-term strategy for investing in renewable energy, environmental technology, energy efficiency and carbon capture and storage. He said it was essential if the Government is to meet its target of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.

And he claimed that the long term future of society now depends on the Government’s commitments to the environment as much as it does to education, health and the economy.

Lord Chris Smith urged the Chancellor to invest in green capital projects and schemes to mitigate the recession and climate change. And he encouraged more public sector organisations to take advantage of the Partnership for Renewables initiative to site renewable energy sources on their buildings or land. The Environment Agency today announced plans to site up to 80 wind turbines on its land - enough to generate electricity for 90,000 households.

Lord Chris Smith outlined the key elements of delivering a ‘Green New Deal’ programme. They include:

• Development of Carbon Capture and Storage for coal-fired power stations - initially in demonstration projects, but thereafter on a wider scale
• More incentives for energy efficiency in homes and businesses
• Greater use of combined heat and power
• Removal of disincentives from development of anaerobic digestion and other sustainable biomass projects
• Feed-in tariffs and grants to help householders to develop sustainable energy
• A major national programme for power generation through wind, solar and tidal sources
• Continuing development of work (especially on rivers and coasts) to protect from, and adapt to, the impact of climate change

The Environment Agency’s national conference also includes keynote speeches by Ed Miliband, Hilary Benn and Boris Johnson.

Lord Chris Smith said:

“We need a Green New Deal to meet our carbon emissions targets and create jobs in renewable energy and green technology. We need an ambitious and coherent strategy for the future, which is matched by investment by Government to kick-start key projects.

“We are facing a recession and there will be pressure to weaken environmental targets. I hope the Government will hold its nerve and deliver a far-reaching programme that looks further than the current crisis to deliver on our 2050 targets.”

Phot courtesy of freefoto.com

 

New coal plants must have CCS

All new coal burning plants must have carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology or the UK will find it very difficult to meet CO2 reduction targets, the Environment Agency (EA) has warned.

As the government considers a raft of new coal power plants, Lord Chris Smith, EA chairman, said that none should be given planning permission unless they are fitted with CCS from the outset.

He said: "Building a new generation of coal fired power stations without capturing the carbon emissions would lock the UK into using high carbon technology for decades to come - this is not an environmentally sustainable way of generating power given the challenges we face with climate change."

Last month, MPs in the Environmental Audit Commission, called for existing coal burning plants to be given a deadline for installing CCS technology.

According to the committee, fitting a plant with CCS equipment could reduce its carbon emissions by 90 per cent.

Essex biofuel depot blockaded

A biofuel depot in Essex was blockaded by campaigners who claim that biofuels are responsible for global food price rises and could actually accelerate climate change.

Protesters targeted the Vopak depot in Thurrock, Essex, which is the biggesd biofuel depot in the country.

The campaigners based at the week-long protest camp at the E.on power station in Kingsnorth kent, lay across the road, unfurled a 12-metre banner and chained themselves to a fuel storage tank.

One of the protesters Julia Brownlow said: "Agrofuels are destroying the very ecosystems which can stabilise the climate - with the collapse of the Amazon possibly just a few years away I am left with no choice but to take action."

The action on biofuels follows the World Bank report that stated that farmers shifting production to provide biofuel manufacturers with feedstock – or raw material – was responsible for 70 per cent of the massive global food price rises.

Research is currently focusing on so-called second generation biofuels which are based on non-food feedstock. One possibility is generating fuel from algae, while others are working on fuel from organic waste.

Flood risk highlighted over potential nuclear site

An environment consultant based in Suffolk has asserted that the proposed £6 billion Sizewell C nuclear power station could be at risk of flooding.

Opposition groups to the site have pointed out that the changing coastline nearby, as well as the risk of erosion and the rising sea level, could make the site an uncertain location for a future nuclear power plant.

Suffolk and Essex news source EADT 24 reported that Pete Wilkinson, an environment consultant and former member of a government radioactive waste disposal committee, stated that it is imperative that the correct "checks and balances" are used when determining new sites for nuclear power stations.

"It is ironic that while the government claims it needs nuclear power to combat climate change it is proposing to site the new plants in areas which will be at the forefront of climate change," he pointed out.

NewEnergyFocus reported this week that new government criteria have been drawn up to regulate the suitability of potential nuclear power sites across the UK.

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