In January 2007 the EU Commission has communicated about “Sustainable power generation from fossil fuels: aiming for near-zero emissions from coal after 2020”. (Please notice that it wasn’t published to Official Journal.)
The fossil fuels are very important for European Union, knowing that more than 50% from the EU energy provides, in the present moment, from fossil fuels (especially natural gas and coal).
However, all use of fossil fuels lead to CO2 emissions, currently the most critical cause of global warming. If fossil fuels are to continue playing their valuable role in the energy mix, solutions must be found to limit the impact of their use to levels compatible with sustainable climate objectives.
That is why, the EU Commission has discusses about:
- technologies for generating energy from fossil fuels;
- how these technologies may be developed;
- and which could be the costs relative with the benefits for this goal.
So ‘Clean Coal’ technologies have been developed and are now widely used in the power generation sector, substantially mitigating the problems of local pollution and acid rain by considerably reducing emissions of SO2, NOx, particulates and dust from coal-fired power plants.
Clean Coal technologies have also brought about a steady increase in the energy efficiency of the conversion of coal into electricity, although there is still scope for substantial improvements in the energy efficiency of large-size coal-fired power plants through the continued development of these technologies.
The best available technology will have to be used for modernizing the EU's stock of coal-fired power plants, enabling CO2 emissions generated by them to be cut by 20% by 2020.
The Commission will assess whether using the best available technology is effective and will consider proposing the adoption of legally binding instruments to promote it where necessary.
Regarding the costs associated with these technologies, at the present moment the estimated cost for CO2 capture from power generation and subsequent storage at the current level of technology development range up to €70 per tonne of CO2, so the large-scale use of these technologies is prohibitively for the moment.
However, major technology improvements are anticipated for the coming years. Available models and studies with a medium- to long-term perspective estimate the costs by 2020 at about €20-30 per tonne of CO2.
Please notice that the present communication is part of the "energy package" published by the Commission in January 2007, which sets out a new European energy policy with quantified targets.
Other related acts:
EU Commission Communication from 10 January 2007 on an Energy Policy for Europe (not published in the Official Journal).
EU Commission Communication from 10 January 2007 "Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius - The way ahead for 2020 and beyond" ( Not published in the Official Journal).
EU Green Paper Commission from 8 March 2006 "A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy" ( Not published in the Official Journal).
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