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Climate camp goes to Kingsnorth
Posted by jossc on 5 March 2008.
Kingsnorth in Kent is to be the main focus of this year's Camp for Climate Action. From 4th to 11th of August climate activists will gather at the site of E.On's proposed new coal-fired power station, the first to be built in the UK for 30 years.
The week-long protest will begin with a day Heathrow airport, the site of last year's camp, as a reminder that we can't stop climate change without stopping airport expansion. It will be followed by a march across London to the site of the planned £1bn power station and a day of direct action at Kingsnorth on August 9.
"The new power station planned for Kingsnorth will output more CO2 each year than the whole of Ghana"
The camp, which is one of eight targeting coal around the world this summer, will put Kingsnorth at the front and centre of the debate on climate change. It will bring together hundreds of activists for several days of workshops, discussion and direct action. Coal is the most polluting of all fossil-fuels, and the fact that the government looks set to approve plans for eight new coal power plants simply beggars belief - Kingsnorth alone will emit 8m tonnes of CO2 a year (more than nations such as Ghana), making it one of the most climate-wrecking plants in Europe.
Kingsnorth and Heathrow are key battles in the fight to limit the damage caused by climate change. They cannot go ahead if we are to have any chance of meeting the government's own target to reduce emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Long-term climate security versus short-term profits for the power and aviation companies should be a no-brainer, and yet at every turn Gordon Brown seems to unerringly choose the wrong option.
So this year's camp will be more vital than ever in the battle against climate change. If it's anything like last year's, it will also be challenging, informative and good fun. More to the point, it will be a focus of resistance to the 'business as usual' mentality to which politicians seem so prone, and a reminder that we have only a limited time in which to make a difference to the greatest threat which the world is currently facing.
Cool how do I get a place?
I missed out on last year was sailing from Brittanny to Essex, where can I register so I can attend or can anyone turn up on the day/week?
JetG. rescue diver extraordinaire.
Place?
I would also like to know whether you have to register for a place or whether you just turn up on the day.
Attending climate camp
No you don't need to register as far as I know - just turn up and add your support, I'm sure you'll be welcome.
Kingsnorth: an opportunity to demonstrate carbon capture
The proposed power station at Kingsnorth provides an
opportunity for the world’s first power station with
Carbon Capture and Storage. At present the
German-based energy giant EON wants to add a new
coal-fired plant of traditional design. Greenpeace initiative in disclosing the exchange of e-mails on 16th. Jan between EON and the energy minister John Hutton shows that the department is
likely to approve a traditional design, in which CO2
is discharged to the air.
CO2 capture could be done by compression of flue gases
after combustion. The better method is pre-combustion
capture, in which steam is passed over the coal,
giving a stream of hydrogen for power generation, and
a stream of CO2 for storage. Oxyfuel is a still more
advanced design, burning coal in pure oxygen instead
of air. Storage can be done in underground rock
layers, or better still in ageing undersea oil wells.
Kent has many old coal mines in the East of the
county, about 20 – 30 km East of the proposed EON site
at Ashford. A CCS plant in gigawatt range would be
world fist. Although the technology is new, the
engineering principles are new, and thoroughly
explored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change.
(www.mnp.nl/ipcc/pages_media/SRCCS-final/IPCCSpecialReportonCarbondioxideCaptureandStorage.htm)
At present the energy department has declared against
pre-combustion technology. Post-combustion capture is
an option, if someone decided in the future they are
willing to pay for it. Pre-combustion means the extra
cost of electricity generation is designed in. It is
the energy department rather than the producers that
are avoiding pre-combustion. Indeed Centrica,
ConocoPhillips, and Powerfuel are seeking judicial
review because their pre-combustion bids have been
excluded.
Electricity with CCS might 50% more expensive than
open-flue generation. Commercial producers clearly
would be uncompetitive, so the cost of storage might
need to be borne from green taxes. The recent budget
imposed further taxes on CO2 sources such as car
emissions. There is a widespread cynicism that this is
just another way of raising exchequer, and does
nothing for the climate. The allocation of tax revenue
to create storage capacity for CO2 would clearly link
tax and climate.
Some campaigners against Kingsnorth oppose all new
power generation by fossil fuels, and also nuclear.
While renewables can certainly contribute, we do not
think the UK can manage without fossil fuels. The
generating power shortfall after 2015 is unlikely to
be met by wind and tidal power. While energy
conservation measures will certainly help, they are
likely to only offset population growth. DEFRA
emissions figures show greenhouse gas emissions
dropped in the early 1990s, and have been about stable
since then.
The political value of a working CSS plant is mainly
that it would set a precedent. China and the USA
between them generate nearly half the world’s CO2, and
these countries continue to treat the atmosphere as a
free good. Britain could show an engineering and
economic model for CO2
Capture, and insist that our trading partners behave
similarly. Electricity generation worldwide is the
biggest source of greenhouse gases (26%), and also the
biggest growth area (30% per decade). Most of this new
capacity in the developing world is from coal. The
precedent needs to be set.
We therefore ask that:
* UK Energy and climate change strategy should include
coal-fired power stations, using pre-combustion carbon
capture
* The additional cost of CCS should be borne from
hypothecated taxes raised on carbon emissions
Ed Conduit, SERA West Midlands