Unthreaded
Phillip Bratby said:
Can anyone tell me under what EU rules or directives the UK has to close several coal-fired power stations this year (LCPD) whilst Germany will open 5.3GW of new coal-fired power stations?
That is entirely down to UK politics. The new German coal power stations will be clean enough when it comes to nitrogen and sulphur emissions to pass LCPD requirements. The old UK coal power stations won't be so are being closed. The only thing preventing new coal power in the UK is the UK.
The Emissions Performance Standard requires new power to have CO2 emissions of 450g/kwh or lower. This is too clean even for new coal but there is an exemption if CCS is installed. To the central planners this would have spurred on the development of CCS without having to throw much taxpayer money at it. In the real world the energy producers have either not bothered and are looking to close plants or they are going down the route of burning biomass. The regulatory hurdle is too high.
Gareth
Germany needs the additional power plants:
http://news.sky.com/story/1058724/berlins-new-airport-cant-switch-lights-off
Lord Beaverbrook
Mike Jackson: Only lick your shoes?
Mikeh: For sure, somebody will make big money from this plant closure and it won't be UK citzens. There is no logical reason why new new emissions abatement plant can't be installed; coal-fired power stations still produce the cheapest electricity and can afford say £50M per unit. I can't think how sanity is going to prevail before it is too late, and people start to die in their thousands.
Phillip Bratby
Phillip B,
I read that they are also retiring about 1 GW of old coal capacity so I would assume that the new plants have the latest emission abatement kit (although not CCS, obviously) whereas the old plant does not and it is probably not economic and/or feasible to upgrade it.
Either that or they are driving a coach & horses through all the regulatory BS! If only....
I was staggered to read that plans are in place for the rapid demolition of Didcot. Surely it would be prudent to mothball it until the threat of blackouts recedes? I cannot help but feel that the big gencos have watched the government digging a huge hole for itself - and the whole country - and have cheerfully lend them extra shovels. Maybe they think a crisis will bring sanity and a crash programme of gas new-build.
mikeh
Phillip
1. Who cares what the Brits think or say. Screw the bastards.
2. Jawöhl, Frau Merkel; three bags full, Frau Merkel; lick your shoes, Frau Merkel. GIve us more money, Frau Merkel.
I think that sums it up in a nutshell
Mike Jackson
Can anyone tell me under what EU rules or directives the UK has to close several coal-fired power stations this year (LCPD) whilst Germany will open 5.3GW of new coal-fired power stations?
Phillip Bratby
Remarkable profile/interview with fanatical Bill McKibben of 350.org -- who knew that a prominent enviro-whacko would say we have an "infinite" supply of hydrocarbons? (normally they are ranting about how we are about to run out.....)
“God has set this up as the most perfect pure test there could be,” he continues. “We have an infinite amount of hydrocarbons. Does man have the self-restraint to save himself? Or it’s like, is the big brain a good adaptation? It got us into this predicament. Will it get us out?”
[emphasis added]
Skiphil
I think you do Anne Glover a disservice, she makes many good points about the LHC and science in general.
I would encourage everyone to listen to the whole lecture. She makes some very good points about transparency, uncertainty and the scientific method.
Arthur Dent
REPEAL OR SUSPEND CLIMATE CHANGE ACT
Stand up and be counted:
https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42784
Feb 27, 2013 at 9:47 AM | Lord Beaverbrook>>>>>>
thanks for the link.
RKS
There's an interesting post over at Nick Grealy's No Hot Air website on the theme of public perceptions of fracking. He has posted up a long and thorough response from a US journal to a recent Telegraph article on the "downsides" of fracking.