The Anonymous Widower

A Blot on the Landscape

Ironbridge is a World Heritage Site and rightly so.  Go a few kilometres upstream and the gorge opens out and you can see how the Severn meanders across the countryside. Note that meander comes from the River Meander in Turkey.

River Severn above Ironbridge

But turn to the left and between where I took this picture and the Iron Bridge you will see this.

Ironbridge Power Station

This is the coal-fired Ironbridge Power Station.  It was built in 1981 and according to Friends of the Earth is the second worst polluter in the UK per megawatt generated.

It just shows how attitudes have changed over time. 

Would anybody in their right mind build a power station there now?

As an aside here, remember that I have a degree in Electrical Engineering from Liverpool University and have spent quite a bit of my working life looking at how large projects, structures and machines are built and managed.

When you burn coal to produce electricity, you turn a tonne of coal into 2.93 tonnes of carbon dioxide.  If you were to use natural gas to get the same amount of electricity, the figure is lower.  This quote from Wikipedia gives all the figures.

This can be used to calculate an emission factor for CO2 from the use of coal power. Since the useful energy output of coal is about 30% of the 6.67 kWh/kg(coal), the burning of 1 kg of coal produces about 2 kWh of electrical energy. Since 1 kg coal emits 2.93 kg CO2, the direct CO2 emissions from coal power are 1.47 kg/kWh, or about 0.407 kg/MJ.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency’s 1999 report on CO2 emissions for energy generation, quotes a lower emission factor of 0.963 kg CO2/kWh for coal power. The same source gives factor for oil power in the U.S. of 0.881 kg CO2/kWh, while natural gas has 0.569 kg CO2/kWh. Estimates for specific emission from nuclear power, hydro, and wind energy vary, but are about 100 times lower.

What I find interesting about these figures is the discrepancy between the first figures for CO2 from coal and the US ones!

But whichever set you accept, the message is simple; Don’t Burn Coal!

August 12, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Coal, Electricity, Ironbridge, World Heritage Site