Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) involves removing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide, from the coal power generation process before it gets into the atmosphere.
The technology could be viable at some point in the future but…
“CCS is as yet unproven technology and we have to acknowledge there is some risk that safe and reliable CCS for power generation might not be proven or deployable at scale and at reasonable costs.”
- John Hutton, UK Energy Minister.
E.ON claims that its proposed coal fired power station at Kingsnorth will be CCS ‘ready’ so that the technology can be fitted later down the line. Yet whilst we wait for CCS to arrive, Kingsnorth will pump out millions of tonnes of carbon, none of which will be stored and all of which will be a massive driver of climate change.
The government says we must rapidly reduce our emissions yet is welcoming back coal with open arms for another 50 years of polluting whilst viable alternatives already exist.
The government has launched a competition for energy companies to win funding to build a CCS demonstration project - and E.ON is set to apply and would likely win. Yet E.ON’s Kingsnorth proposal is 4 times the size of the much smaller demonstration project being offered by the Government. This means that even if CCS does work 75% of the emissions would not have to be captured and would be released to go on and drive climate change.
Until Carbon Capture is a reality we cannot allow new coal power stations to be built and until then it must be seen as it is; green wash so good you could bottle it.
Find out what you can do and the alternatives to coal….
