Carbon capture looms, as the coal collects

An interesting article appeared in a recent edition of the Times, citing current levels of coal storage at power stations up and down the country.  Apparently “Britain’s coal mountain has soared to its highest level in nearly 15 years”, as plant operators take advantage of recession-fuelled low prices.  The article appears, ironically, little more than a fortnight before the UN climate change talks kick off in Copenhagen.

The bad news: coal burning as a means to generate power is less than ideal for the planet.  The good news: it would appear a solution looms imminently on the horizon.  Work is currently being undertaken into the process of ‘carbon capture and storage’ – a process which will siphon off CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel power plants, before they have the chance to escape into the atmosphere, and contribute further to global warming.

The work is in its infant stages at present, and will not be commercially viable for some years yet.  Not quite time to ditch the solar panels, perhaps.  However, the excitement over this developmental technology is easy to understand: put simply, it would mean the overwhelming majority of pollution from fossil fuel (coal/gas) burning plants could be captured, and stored, safely.  Not a pipe dream, but a definite possibility, it seems.

For a genuinely innovative and educational introduction to this technology, you could do a lot worse than check out Scottish Power’s ‘CCS TV’.