[cdn-nucl-l] Website tracks world's worst polluting power plants

[Adam McLean <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Posted in the Toronto Star on November 15, 2007, and at:
Interesting info:
http://carma.org/
The worst carbon emitting power company in Canada is Transalta, #81 in  
the world, with OPG second at #120.  Bruce Power, for comparison, is  
listed at #3333.

Adam

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Website tracks world's worst polluting power plants

The world's most polluting power plants, with annual emissions in  
millions of tons of CO{-2}. Ontario Power Generation's Nanticoke  
generating station on Lake Erie is 65th, with 17.6 million tons.

1. Taichung, Taiwan (41.3)

2. Poryong, South Korea (37)

3. Castle Peak, Hong Kong (35)

4. Reftinskaya SDPP, Russia (33)

5. Mailiao FP, Taiwan (32.4)

6. Tuoketuo-1, China (32.4)

7. Vindhyachail, India (29)

8. Hekinan, Japan (28.9)

9. Kendal, South Africa (28.6)

10. Janschwalde, Germany (27.4)


Nov 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Peter Gorrie
ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

How dirty is your electricity?

The information is on a new website, and its creators hope the public  
disclosure will inspire a global cleanup of polluting power plants.

Around the world, 50,000 plants generate electricity: Every year, the  
thousands that burn coal and other fossil fuels spew 10 billion tons  
of carbon dioxide, making a major contribution to climate change,  
according to the Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) site.

The problem stands to get worse, with hundreds more coal-fired plants  
set to be built during the next decade, says David Wheeler of the  
Centre for Global Development, which compiled the database.

Political rhetoric increasingly stresses the need to cut emissions,  
"but the reality on the ground is going in the other direction,"  
Wheeler said in an interview yesterday.

"Information leads to action ... If you can get a coherent database to  
the public, you can have quite a substantial impact."

About 60 per cent of the world's electricity is generated by burning  
fossil fuels, and those power plants create one-quarter of all  
greenhouse gas emissions, CARMA says.

The countries with, by far, the most dirty plants are the United  
States and China: Together, they produce more than half the global  
power plant emissions.

Canada is well back in 15th place. Thanks to its many sources of hydro  
and nuclear power, Canada also produces relatively few greenhouse  
gases in proportion to the electricity generated.

Among individual plants, the biggest emitters are in China, Taiwan,  
South Korea, Russia and the U.S.

Ontario Power Generation's Nanticoke plant on Lake Erie is 65th on the  
list, at about 17.6 million tons of greenhouse gases a year.

It operates only intermittently to generate electricity at times of  
peak demand. If it ran as often as most large plants it would be a  
"world scale" polluter, Wheeler said.

While 4,000 companies run power plants, only 100 produce 57 per cent  
of the emissions, Wheeler noted. "One hundred CEOs are accountable for  
that much."

Research for the site ? CARMA.org ? confirmed "the dismaying  
persistence" of coal as a fuel, despite its well-known contribution to  
climate change, he said.

Along with hundreds of coal-fired plants being built in Asia, the U.S.  
plans 83 and Western Europe, 38.

The work also undermined the argument, often made in international  
negotiations, that climate change is caused by wealthy industrialized  
nations and, therefore, the developing world merits a pass while it  
attempts to rise out of poverty. This year, for the first time,  
greenhouse emissions from power plants in developing nations will  
exceed those in the developed world.

The view that the "South" can wait is outmoded, Wheeler said.

It's "moving into crisis territory on its own now, even if there was  
no more carbon dioxide from the `North.'"

The solution, Wheeler said, must be "some grand bargain" among all 203  
nations included in the database to regulate emissions and reduce them  
through new technology, renewable sources, conservation and efficiency.

Public disclosure is already credited with reducing air and water  
emissions of toxic substances in Canada, the U.S. and even in China,  
Wheeler said.

It can lead to public pressure on polluters. As well, he said, banks  
are sometimes unwilling to back companies that might face pollution  
lawsuits or appear to be wasteful. And corporate executives  
occasionally want to improve their image. Disclosure can, "set off  
soul-searching in corporate suites."