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The modern world depends on electricity. But when making it, we must meet the needs of society and the environment. Electricity producers are making their contribution to a sustainable future in a variety of ways. Learn about some of them here.
Electricity producers are committed to being as sustainable as possible, making a positive contribution to the UK’s society, economy and environment. They are already taking significant action to reduce their environmental impacts and will go even further over the next decade and beyond.
The electricity industry is a major contributor to the economy and society. Not only does the country depend on its product, but the industry itself accounts for about 1.3% of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product. Investment by the UK electricity industry in 2008 was over £4 billion and is expected to total over £150 billion in the next ten to fifteen years. The electricity industry is also a leading job provider, directly employing some 77,500 people.
Electricity producers are committed to reducing their carbon emissions and have pledged to achieve a carbon neutral electricity sector across Europe by 2050. This will be key to meeting climate change targets, but will require massive investment in new, low carbon power stations. In the UK, the power generation industry is currently responsible for nearly a third of carbon emissions. CO2 emissions from the sector have fallen by 16% since 1990 and are expected to reduce substantially in the coming decades, with zero carbon technologies (renewables and nuclear) producing 40% of our electricity by 2020.
The primary driver for reducing CO2 emissions in the power sector is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which works on a ‘cap and trade’ basis. Installations must submit allowances to cover each tonne of CO2 which they emit and, by restricting the overall number of allowances available, the EU ETS puts a price on carbon, encouraging companies to take action to reduce their emissions. Allowances can be traded between scheme participants, meaning that carbon savings can be made where they are most cost-effective.
The UK provides additional financial support, where appropriate, to low carbon technologies which are currently too expensive for companies to invest in on the basis of the carbon price alone. Renewable electricity, for example, is supported through the Renewables Obligation, which rewards renewable output over the lifetime of a project.
Other potential environmental impacts from power generation, such as emissions to air or water, are carefully regulated. EU law places strict limits on emissions from power stations, which must obtain a permit from the national environmental regulator in order to operate. If an operator breaches the conditions in his environmental permit, he can be taken to court or have his permit revoked.
Electricity producers have taken significant steps to reduce power station emissions that affect air quality and are responsible for acid rain. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from power stations have fallen by 87% since 1990, largely as a result of many coal-fired power stations fitting Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) equipment at an estimated total cost of over £2 billion. Investment in new technology has also caused power station emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulates to decrease dramatically.
As well as electricity, power generation processes can produce a number of other useful substances, known as ‘byproducts’.
Coal-fired power stations produce around 7 million tonnes of ash each year, which can be used in various ways by the construction industry, avoiding the extraction of raw materials and preventing ash from being sent to landfill. Unfortunately, power station ash is currently regulated as a waste, restricting the potential market and meaning that half of all ash is landfilled. However, electricity producers are working to get power station ash reclassified so that more of it can be put to useful purposes. Ash from biomass electricity generation and digestate from anaerobic digestion can also be beneficially used as fertilisers.
The gypsum produced when sulphur is extracted by the FGD process at coal-fired power stations is used, instead of virgin rock, in the manufacture of plasterboard or similar products. Power stations produce over 2 million tonnes of FGD gypsum each year and the majority of all synthetic gypsum is FGD Gypsum.
Power stations ensure that they make the most efficient use of the heat they produce in the electricity generation process. In certain circumstances, heat produced at power stations can be used for other applications, such as in industrial processes or for heating homes and businesses. Under the right conditions, producing useable heat and electricity at the same time, known as Combined Heat and Power (CHP), can be more efficient than generating them separately and there are several policies in place to encourage it. There are currently over 1,400 CHP schemes in the UK with a total electricity generating capacity of nearly 5.5 GW.