Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Gas prices caused 1 million tonne jump in winter 2005/6 carbon emissions

Figures obtained from the Government by the Chair of the Independent Energy Scrutiny Panel John Hemming MP showed a 1 million tonne increase in Carbon Emissions between Winter 2004/5 and 2005/6. This was as a result of a shift from gas power generation to Coal and Oil power generation.

"It is not surprising", said John Hemming "that more carbon was emitted by burning pure carbon rather than a mixture of carbon and hydrogen. The government's failures in the gas market do not only hit people's gas bills, but they also hit the environment."

"This winter faces uncertainty from Norway. The Langeled Pipeline is feeding gas to the UK, but we are getting none in from Belgium at the moment. It is quite likely that the UK is being used to feed gas from Norway to Europe. What will happen when it gets colder remains unclear. I am still worried about the decisionmaking of those companies that straddle the channel. Last winter gas was kept for the Continent when it should have come to the UK. This must not happen again."

ENDS

Figures from DTI.



The amount of Gas used in Power Stations fell by 15.26%. Gas fired power stations emit an average of 99 Tonnes of Carbon per Gwh of electricity.
The amount of Coal used in Power Stations rose by 13.05%. Coal Power Stations emit 238 Tonnes of Carbon per Gwh of electricity.
The switch from Gas to Coal and Oil electricity generation meant that Carbon emissions rose by 1687853 Tonnes (6.27%) between winter 2004/05 and winter 2005/06.
The increase of Carbon Emissions in the Electricity generating sector equates to an increase of 1.85% of total winter UK emissions.

Note that the winter period is calculated on the basis of Q4 and Q1 (October-March)

Information about the carbon efficiency of power station:http://www.dtistats.net/energystats/dukes06_c5.pdfInformation about the electricity generation in the UK.http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/statistics/source/electricity/page18527.html

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

eXTReMe Tracker