Deep sea mining puts $560 billion in land extraction at risk — report
Even in optimal scenarios, the activity would generate only $6.25 million in tax revenue for countries involved, says Planet Tracker.
Scotland has stopped generating electricity from coal for the first time in more than 100 years, as its Longannet power station, north of the capital Edinburgh, switched off the last of its four generating units Thursday afternoon.
Its owner, Scottish Power, said the high cost of connecting to the grid was to blame.
Scotland plans to meet 100% of its electricity needs from renewable supplies only by 2020.
The power station used more than 177 million tonnes of coal was used along with 2.7 million tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 2.4 million cubic metres of natural gas during its 46 years of production.
More than 60 billion cubic metres of cooling water from the Firth of Forth have also passed through the power station.
It was the largest power station in Europe when it went online in 1970, capable of producing 2,400 megawatt of electricity for the national grid and powering over two million homes each year.
UK’s coal-fired plants have been shutting ahead of a 2023 deadline for compliance with new EU rules on air quality.
The Scottish government has outlined ambitious plans to meet 100% of its electricity needs from renewable supplies only by 2020.
The Scottish energy strategy refuses to consider new nuclear energy, putting it at odds with the wider U.K. policy mix.
14 Comments
Erick Quang
The reason that Scotland closed it’s coal fired power station is , thanks to English managerial and union incompetence all of Scotland’s heavy industry has disappeard along with the jobs it provided, there for less electricity is required hence less power stations are needed, an interesting study in industrial decline.
Altaf
In any nations transformation, growth happens in phases. Initially for creating infrastructure, the nation needs and sets up heavy industry which is capital intensive, power intensive, labor intensive. Once a reasonable growth has taken place and the nation moves up the value ladder, the nation outsources the intensive industries to lesser developed nations and moves up the value chain to service industry. You must be feeling happy that your nation moved up the value chain. If you have reservation that though your nation moved up the value ladder but you are left behind, then it is govt responsibility to take you along and accommodate you in upper level.
Pat Wood
I think you are in the ‘upper level’ due of your abundant use of medical marijuana, because you sound quite HIGH in your pathetic summation of what makes an economy tick.
Go back to comic books, child.
Geosteff
Mixed feelings here. Sorry to see the last of the coal trains (avid train-spotter in my blood!) and the decline of heavy industry often means a drain on aspects of engineering talent and training. However, will renewable energy be able to handle the demands of an exceptionally cold winter etc??
Pat Wood
Hope the Scots got flashlights and lots of batteries…….
klgmac
Expensive and unreliable “alternative energies” hurt the most vulnerable citizens the most and are a crime against humanity.
Pat Wood
Tell that to the leftist kooks that want to exterminate 1/2 of humanity because it would lower carbon emissions. Yes, some leftist kooks that support the hype and drama of AGW want to do exactly that.
patentbs
An aside to this. Canadian Solar just brought on 2 photo voltaic plants in the southern USA. TRP just signed a new power agreement that will enable the refurbishment of Bruce Power nuclear plant. Canadian Solar’s price was 34.5 cents. TRP price was 5.6 cents.
Mike Failla
Back to peat and wood I guess.
rocdoctom
What’s the replacement?
Pat Wood
It’s fairly obvious what is going on with the biased reporting on this website.
Why do the journalist staff at MINING.com seemingly EMBRACE the absurd, unproven, highly speculative, highly suspect proposition that man-made CO2 emissions are something that is “warming” the planet.
IPCC and Dept. of Energy research has concluded that man-kind is only responsible for 2.9% of annual CO2 emissions into Earth’s atmosphere.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/archive/gg04rpt/pdf/tbl3.pdf
De minimum.
Yet, the staff of MINING.com constantly propagate articles that support the alarmist fetishes of the anti-commerce, anti-economic progress trolls of the left. Those who’d have the people of the Earth living in mud huts and eating grass, all ostensibly to lower mankind’s “carbon footprint”.
MINING.com should be about the mining industry, advancing the interests of the mining industry, and sponsoring support for the mining industry for it’s many accomplishments, together with industry, that has let the vast majority of humanity live more comfortable lives.
Honheree
I agree with you. Some articles are either frivolous or clearly or by inference like this one, ie anti-mining or are supportive of the farce of CO2 causing climate change. Over the next 15 years starting in this coming winter we will see the climate getting extremely cold due to solar and lunar cycles, and as a result CO2 will decrease. As I have said before there are more important pollution problems, pollution of rivers and oceans by human waste, fertilizers, and plastics, and air pollution by carbon particulates (ie soot or PM2.5 and PM10) by countries like China and India. These can be dealt with, but are not. Humans only account for 15% of the tiny increase of CO2. Natural cycles like the tide are the main cause to CO2 cycles and the governments that have been sucked into this or have seen the opportunity to impose and obtain a ‘politically correct’ TAX revenue, as most are just putting the tax into general coffers, not towards CO2 reduction, which they, like King Canute, will not be able to influence these natural cycles in any case.
Scotland’s offshore wind farms are expensive to run and maintain. In addition, the ones on land are an eyesore and kill many birds. The only other ways to increase significant electrical power in Scotland is hydroelectric, which will mean flooding some of the major glens (valleys) or nuclear. Wait for the uproar over that. Meanwhile, Scotland will now experience brownouts and blackouts due to the lack of certainty of sustaining electrical power from wind farms. All those Scots who have converted to electrical or are in newer electrically heated homes will be facing long cold winters. They need to start stocking up on woolies.
Gary
Maybe if they want to meet the new EU air quality rules they should speak to Volkswagen?
Conodo Mose
Is Scotland smarter/better than….
Oil giant Venezuela, Green giant Tasmania – both running out of electricity, March 19, 2016
http://joannenova.com.au/
Venezuela Shuts down–In a land where energy makes up 25% of their GDP and most of their exports, home of the world’s largest heavy oil resource – it takes some management to run out of electricity. Apparently the land of oil needs some fossil fuel generation.
–The socialist solution? Blame the weather: Venezuela to Shut Down for a Week to Cope With Electricity Crisis
The Green state — Tasmania — has an electricity crisis and is now running on dirty diesel