Burning fossil fuels – gas, coal and oil – to generate electricity has served us well in the past. But while they still account for most of the electricity produced in the UK, there are two major problem areas:
Price – we no longer have enough of our own fossil fuels, so increasingly we have to rely on foreign imports of coal, oil and gas – all subject to market forces of supply and demand. It means the cost of the electricity is tied to the price of the fuel used to produce it. And the more we import, the more control we lose over our ability to set a fair price for the electricity we consume. The trend, as we all know too well, is increasingly expensive bills. What’s more, having to rely on imports means we have less security of supply.
* Pollution – fossil fuels are heavily polluting in terms of green house gases, producing CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) in huge quantities. This doesn’t sit well with aggressive EC targets to cut CO2 emissions and continued dependence on fossil fuels will contribute to overall CO2 emissions growing at 1-2%. Click here to find out more about pollution and green issues.
Coal
Coal is the dirtiest method of producing energy and is responsible for a lot of the pollution we hear about in China and India. While new technologies known as Carbon Collection and Storage (CCS) could potentially ‘clean up’ fossil fuel power generation, they are currently unproven, extremely costly so will require huge subsidies and will bring about a doubling of electricity costs. In Medway in Kent for example, Eon are proposing a new coal fired power station and promising CCS technology, but at an unspecified future date. What’s more, while the capital costs for building a coal fired power station are lower than they would be for an equivalent nuclear facility, the actual running costs for coal are higher. Please see chart below:
Gas
Natural gas is a cleaner fuel than oil or coal, but in its un-burnt state it is 23 times more environmentally dangerous than carbon dioxide, so any leaks in the thousands of miles of pipeline necessary to transport it, would be extremely damaging.
While gas is cheap to produce and gas power stations cheaper than nuclear power stations to build, gas prices are nonetheless linked to oil, which as we all know, are increasing. Indeed some commentators are already talking of gas prices increasing by 70% over the next year – 2008/9. Like other fossil fuels we are increasingly dependent upon good relations with other countries for supply, and again the more we import the more price fluctuations we are likely to see.