Warning over 'clean' power plans

BBC News, 6 January 2009

Capturing carbon dioxide could reduce emissions from power stations

New gas and coal-fired power stations should not be approved without guarantees carbon capture technology will work, UK government advisers said.

The Sustainable Development Commission has submitted a paper to the Scottish Parliament's climate change committee.

It warns carbon capture is not proven to work effectively or efficiently.

In their National Planning Framework, Scottish ministers claim carbon capture had the capacity to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%.

They are placing great store on new "clean" gas and coal technology.

Ministers argue that the process of collecting carbon from power stations and burying it in rocks under the sea bed has the capacity to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%.

With the power stations at Longannet in Fife, Cockenzie in East Lothian and Peterhead in Aberdeenshire contributing more than a third of Scotland's CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, carbon capture is being seen as the way forward.

But the Sustainable Development Commission will tell MSPs that it is unproven and uncosted and that no new coal or gas-fired power stations should be approved without guaranteed emission standards.

© MMIX

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