As gas prices rise the UK government thinks that switching to "clean coal" (sometimes called "green coal") is the solution. The necessary rider to this kind of technology is that most of the carbon will be captured at the other end and stored long-term, in natural underground cavities, rather than letting it escape into the atmosphere as CO2. The Royal Society (Britain's Academy of Sciences) has endorsed a call from the Environment Audit Committee (EAC) that there should be "bold leadership" in the matter of using coal as a source of energy but noted the government "appears paralysed".
A coal-fired power station produces around twice the amount of CO2 that a gas-fired station does of equivalent generating capacity, and if carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is fitted as well, the process requires another 10 - 40% worth of fuel to be burned. Put another way, it might take building a third station for every two to power the CCS for them all. The EAC heard evidence that there may be five or six new coal-fired stations built in the U.K. by 2015, although this does appear dubious since it takes around 10 years to build one.
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