In February 2020 Extinction Rebellion said that it was "complete lunacy" to bring coal from Australia to Port Talbot steel works in South Wales. Why does the U.K. import coal thousands of miles from Siberia, the U.S. and Australia for its steel industry but holds back on U.K. home coal mining?
During the recently reported "coal free" period of no domestic electricity generation in Britain, we imported an estimated 40.4GWh of coal fired electricity from the Netherlands. The associated emissions are off shore into Europe so are kept off our statistics.
The coal imported from Australia may have been cheaper, even after shipping. Or it may be of better quality. Low sulphur is preferred for some applications in order to reduce acid rain. Coal is not used DIRECTLY in iron and steelmaking, it is first turned into coke, and different types of coal produce different grades of coke. For use in a blast furnace very hard coke is needed. Soft coke would tend to become crushed and thereby impede the passage of air which is vital for combustion.
The great reduction in coal burning for electricity production is welcome news, and the fact that some of our electricity imports are produced from burning coal is most regrettable, but preferable to burning coal at home AND importing electricity from coal.
Hopefully imports of electricity from coal will reduce.
The coal imported from Australia may have been cheaper, even after shipping. Or it may be of better quality. Low sulphur is preferred for some applications in order to reduce acid rain. Coal is not used DIRECTLY in iron and steelmaking, it is first turned into coke, and different types of coal produce different grades of coke. For use in a blast furnace very hard coke is needed. Soft coke would tend to become crushed and thereby impede the passage of air which is vital for combustion.
The great reduction in coal burning for electricity production is welcome news, and the fact that some of our electricity imports are produced from burning coal is most regrettable, but preferable to burning coal at home AND importing electricity from coal.
Hopefully imports of electricity from coal will reduce.
The Centre for Policy Studies is advocating the production of more domestic raw materials and energy to reduce associated distant importing pollution and CO2 production issues. Research has shown that importing coal from Russia emits 569 per cent more in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) than taking coal from northern England. Shipping coal from Australia emits 625 per cent more in CO2e emissions.
The U.K. imports six times more electricity than it exports through undersea interconnectors.
We do occasionally see significant amounts of coal being used, up to 5GW but only on a few days each year. This makes me think it is only used when there is a need to conserve gas supplies.
I've no objection to the occasional use of coal, it seems much more CO2 friendly than building new power stations to act a reserve capacity - or even batteries.
