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Environmental

Clean coal power plants get go-ahead....in Britain

UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced that the UK budget will include funds for 2, and possibly 4, demonstration coal-fired power plants that will be used to prove, or disprove, the technology to capture and store CO2 emissions underground. The technology is not yet proven, and would only initially apply to just 25% of power stations' output. In 2008, coal-fired power stations provided 31% of the UK's electricity, but a third of existing plants are due to close in the next ten years. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8014295.stm.

 
The one demonstration “clean coal” plant in the U.S. as been stalled due to the issue of cost. Information on the DoE program and cost issues can be found at http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/cleancoal/, http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0208/020108kp1.htm, and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/science/earth/11coal.html. In the U.S., coal fired power plants provide [2007] approximately 48.5% of electrical generating capacity (which reflects a slow decrease over time; coal was 49% in 2006 and 52.8% in 1997). See http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html. 

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