Progress Of Sorts, But A Long Way To Go

Subsidies Halved for Controversial Drax Power Station

If you live in or travel through North Yorkshire this power station is hard to miss. It absolutely belches greenhouse gases, and has received billions of pounds of taxpayers money during it’s lifetime. What it has not done is to produce empirical evidence that the power it produces has made a significant difference to the energy bills for consumers.

This BBC article provides some illuminating (no pun intended) insights.

·         Though there are plans to eventually capture the carbon emitted from Drax, its emissions from burning the pellets are currently unabated.

·         It argues that burning wood is carbon neutral because when trees are cut down for fuel, new trees can be planted that effectively re-absorb the carbon dioxide released. True – but new tress take many years to mature and sequester carbon, and most new tress do not reach maturity.

·         Michael Shanks, the Minister of Energy, said the previous subsidy arrangement had allowed Drax to make "unacceptably large profits" and that the new deal would be a "step change in value for money and sustainability".

·         All the pellets Drax burns are imported, with most of them coming from the USA and Canada. Which increases the carbon footprint due to the emissions from travel.

What Can You Do?
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyplj7dkw2o