News Article - 24 May 2012
Category: Environment

Using coal with a reduced carbon emissions measurement is preferable to other non-renewable energies like nuclear, according to Friends of the Earth.

Nick Rau, from the group's Energy and Climate Campaign, believes that 45 per cent of the energy grid can come from renewable technologies by 2020, but the rest will have to come from "flexible, conventional power generation".

He believes that accounting for carbon from coal with carbon caps "could get the emissions down significantly", adding that coal was a better alternative to nuclear, because a large quantity of constant nuclear base-load cannot be balanced against the renewable component.

Coal can also be used with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and combined heat and power (CHP) techniques, because heat from the coal can be captured too.

"Throw CCS and CHP in so that coal does become quite acceptable and definitely preferable to the nuclear option," he concluded.

However, the government's plans for accounting for carbon emissions seem to prefer the nuclear option, including building up to ten new nuclear power stations by 2020.

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