Coal produces almost three-quarters of the 40 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions that comes from electricity generation. Yet, demand for the fuel is set to continue as global energy demand rises in line with population growth and increased urbanisation. After all, coal is in abundance compared with natural gas and oil, with proven global reserves sufficient for energy generation over the next 150 years at current consumption rates.
In light of coal's continued significance in the global energy mix, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is calling for a greater focus on reducing emissions from coal-fired power generation. In a December 2012 report titled "High-Efficiency, Low-Emissions Coal-Fired Power Generation Roadmap", it proposed a timeline and action path for the development and application of high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) coal technologies for power generation over the next decade. The report noted that to limit the rise in global temperature to between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius, carbon dioxide emissions must be halved from current levels by 2050.
Key actions to increase the efficiency of coal-fired power plants, said the report, would be to improve the performance of operational plants, phasing out inefficient ones, and installing efficient, state-of-the-art plants that employ "supercritical technology".
Funding and support for research and development in next-generation technologies--which among other things reduce the amount of water consumed to generate power from coal, without compromising on plant efficiency--is needed. Government action is necessary, too, in improving pollutant monitoring and the power generation sector's compliance with the ambition to achieve higher efficiencies and lower emissions from coal-fired power generation.
It is imperative for government, industry and financial institutions to look seriously at this issue, suggested the report, noting that while the take-up rate of HELE technology has doubled, about three-quarters of existing plants still use non-HELE technology. Far too many non-HELE subcritical units are still being constructed, it noted.
IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven, in the foreward to the report, said: "The task is urgent if we are to make sure that investment decisions taken now do not saddle us with sub-optimal technologies in the long term."
The focus on promoting HELE technologies for power generation, the report went on to add, should in no way reduce the importance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the ongoing goal to make deep cuts in carbon emissions. Combined with CCS, HELE technologies can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power generation plants by as much as 90 percent--a crucial initiative towards substantially reducing emissions on a global scale.
A number of countries, such as Germany, Canada and the US, have already put in place CCS programmes in their coal-fired plants.