Carbon will not be Captured at Longannet

I have always been realistic about carbon capture and storage. The UK government has always been(in public at least) ecstatic about its potential. Whatever your views it must be wrth trying to see if that is a realistic and cost effective way to prevent emissions from reaching the atmosphere from power stations.

How Green Was the Budget?

On Wednesday the British Finance Minister, who is rather grandly called the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the budget for the coming financial year. I have never understood why it is called a budget because a principle of every budget it that it should balance. The economies of the world’s developed nations rarely have balanced budgets; it is all about borrowing and more borrowing. I always look at the budget measures from an environmental perspective, so how green is this budget?

The Energy Bill

The United Kingdom Government has published its programme of legislation for this the last Parliament before A General Election. Many doubt whether any of the proposals will be enacted in law before Parliament is dissolved. Many of the proposals are simply window dressing but among the more useful pieces of legislation, if passed, will be some aspects of the proposed Energy Bill.

Carbon Capture and Storage and Aberthaw power station

You may have heard politicians, energy companies and those with vested interests in coal mining ( mine operators and trade unions) talk about “carbon capture and storage” (CCS) as though it actually exists. It does not exist in any viable form, and you should not be fooled when you hear politicans and power generators talk about CCS. It is a concept, not a consummation, devoutly to be wished.

All coal is dirty

There is no such thing as clean coal, but Gordon Brown does not seem to know that. He talked about clean coal in his recent speech to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, as though it existed and the conference members cheered and applauded him. It is a bit like the Government’s zero Carbon Homes policy – it is something that just is not possible, with the state of knowledge and technology today.

Kingsnorth and a carbon sequestration competition

Kingsnorth’s proposed power station is not a carbon sequestration project. The government has chosen another way to get carbon sequestration technology. Mainly because it has nothing to do with carbon capture some environmentalists are suggesting that we should boycott the banks that are financing e.on’s new coal fired power station project at Kingsnorth.