coal

Following the disclosure last week that power-generating company Eon has been negotiating behind the scenes to get the government's backing to build the UK's first new coal-fired power station for 30 years, Greenpeace's lawyers have written to the energy minister, John Hutton, to insist that the government hold a public inquiry.

Climate campaigner talks to the coal conference organiser

Update: Now with video.

Well, it's all been going on at our barricade of the government / coal industry shindig. This morning, an interested - and vaguely familiar looking - passer-by stopped to have a chinwag with with the volunteers chained to the barricades. After a 10 minute chat about climate change, coal, and climate change's impacts on disease migration, the passer-by wished everyone luck and wandered off.

Coal UK: cancelled due to climate change

This morning, energy minister Malcolm Wicks made his way to Lord's Cricket ground in London to deliver the opening speech for the coal industry's annual shindig.

He was expecting, we assume, to evangelise on the glorious future of coal in the UK, to the rapt and thunderous applause of his chums in the industry.

He probably wasn't expecting to find two metre fences blocking four of the entrances to the industry-government love-in, complete with climate change campaigners chained to the barricades.

One email, four words and six minutes: that’s how long it took for the government to reverse its energy policy and trash our chances of meeting our climate change targets.

We’ve got our mitts on some government documents which show how a single angry email from E.on destroyed a central pillar of the government’s energy policy in just a few minutes.

New coal, new nuclear - the government here seems to be doing everything in its power to avoid facing up to the reality that our energy system is archaic, our energy policy is a disaster, and the new large-scale, centralised coal and nuclear power plants they want won't stop climate change or ensure energy security.

But at least we can glean hope from a more forward thinking European neighbour. Scientists have proved that Germany - which is already way ahead of us on renewables (14 per cent in 2007) - can power itself entirely by renewable energy sources. Completely. 100 per cent.

E.ON is arguing for its new coal plant on the basis that it will include carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. So, is CCS is a silver bullet? Or is it just another false solution, touted by an industry desperately trying to stay relevant in a carbon constrained world?

CCS is a means of separating out carbon dioxide when burning fossil fuels, and then dumping it - underground, or else at or under the sea bed.

CCS isn't commercially viable; there are no commercially operating CCS plants in the world. And for all the industry's obfuscation, the new plant at Kingsnorth won't be able to capture and store carbon; it will just be ready to incorporate CCS should the technology ever become viable in the future.