Charged Up

Some coal. Credit: USGS

THE POWER SECTOR

Around 50% of the annual emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by further greening of the electricity mix. We expect 40% of the electricity we use in 2020 to come from low carbon sources – 30% from renewables, the rest from nuclear (including new build) and clean coal. We need to all-but eliminate carbon from electricity by 2050.

[15 July 09 - Press Release - UK at forefront of a low carbon economic revolution, Department of Energy and Climate Change]

Part of yesterday’s announcement of the Government’s roadmap for achieving the 50% reduction in CO2 emissions (on 1990 levels) by 2050.

Like those ads for consolidating your credit card debt into one, easy-to-manage monthly payment, it sounds sort of sensible. 40% from “low carbon” sources. 30% from renewables. The dodgy bit is “the rest from nuclear… and clean coal” (my emphasis).

Just like Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, there’s no such thing as clean coal:

Coal is certainly an important fuel, providing just over half of the nation’s electricity. And progress has been made: new coal-fired plants are cleaner than old ones, and older plants that have been required under the Clean Air Act to install pollution controls are cleaner than the many plants that have managed to escape the law’s reach.

But coal remains an inherently dirty fuel, and a huge contributor to not only ground-level pollution — including acid rain and smog — but also global warming. The sooner the country understands that, the closer it will be to mitigating the damage.

["Collapse of the Clean Coal Myth", New York Times, Jan 2009]