EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The building of new coal-fired power stations in the European Union would soon be outlawed under legislation approved by the European Parliament's environment committee on Tuesday (7 October), unless firms attach technology said to scrub coal clean of carbon emissions. The committee yesterday voted to back an emissions limit of 500 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour on all new coal plants built after 2015. Because most coal plants cannot meat such a standard, the move would in effect prevent traditional power stations from being built. Coal - will it be killed off, or get a new lease on life? The days of coal in Europe are very far from being numbered, however. Indeed, the legislation gives coal a new lease on life by pushing the adoption of a controversial and unproven technology known as "carbon capture and storage" (CCS), which captures the carbon from emissions and stores it in geological formations underground or under the ocean. "[The vote] will force utilities to invest in CO2 capture and storage if they want to build new coal-fired power plants," said Eivind Hoff of Bellona Europa, a Norway-based environmental group that has been the experimental technology's biggest champion.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The building of new coal-fired power stations in the European Union would soon be outlawed under legislation approved by the European Parliament's environment committee on Tuesday (7 October), unless firms attach technology said to scrub coal clean of carbon emissions.
The committee yesterday voted to back an emissions limit of 500 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour on all new coal plants built after 2015. Because most coal plants cannot meat such a standard, the move would in effect prevent traditional power stations from being built.
Coal - will it be killed off, or get a new lease on life?
The days of coal in Europe are very far from being numbered, however. Indeed, the legislation gives coal a new lease on life by pushing the adoption of a controversial and unproven technology known as "carbon capture and storage" (CCS), which captures the carbon from emissions and stores it in geological formations underground or under the ocean.
"[The vote] will force utilities to invest in CO2 capture and storage if they want to build new coal-fired power plants," said Eivind Hoff of Bellona Europa, a Norway-based environmental group that has been the experimental technology's biggest champion.
And with that single simple decision, human induced climate change ceases to be a problem or responsibility for Europe. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
It would have been weird if they had legislated that option away. But then again, business as usual scenarios are never worth much. Rien n'est gratuit en ce bas monde. Tout s'expie, le bien comme le mal, se paie tot ou tard. Le bien c'est beaucoup plus cher, forcement. Celine
