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Environment group names Europe's 'Dirty Thirty' power stations
afp on Yahoo ^ | 10/3/05 | AFP

Posted on 10/03/2005 8:36:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

GENEVA (AFP) - Coal-fired power stations in Greece, Germany and Spain top a new table of Europe's dirtiest electricity plants, the environmental group WWF International said.

In its new "Dirty Thirty" ranking of power station pollution in the European Union, WWF said Greece's Agios Dimitrios plant was the worst, followed closely by Frimmersdorf in Germany and Abono in Spain.

It ranked plants across the 25-nation EU according to their efficiency -- a calculation based on the number of grammes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per Kilowatt hour of electricity generated.

CO2 is the biggest of the greenhouse gases that trap the sun's heat and cause Earth's temperature to rise. The pollution results from burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.

"The power sector is responsible for 37 percent of all man-made CO2," said Imogen Zethoven, head of the WWF's power campaign.

"Coal-fired power stations rank dirtiest, because they use the most CO2-intense fuel. To switch off global warming we have to replace them with cleaner alternatives, such as gas and renewables," she said, referring to solar, wind and water power.

Other Greek, German and Spanish power stations, as well as one at Turow in Poland filled out the top ten.

The remainder of the list included more Polish and German plants, and their equivalents in Britain, the Czech Republic, Italy and Portugal.

Germany is home to five of the ten dirtiest plants, and four of those are run by the country's giant RWE, which is the biggest CO2 emitter in the European power sector, said the WWF.

The ranking showed that only half a dozen companies account for 19 of the 30 dirtiest power stations -- besides RWE, the include Vattenfall (Sweden), Enel (Italy), Endesa (Spain), E.ON (Germany) and EDF (France).

Not all the plants are in the company's home country.

Over the next two decades, many of the "Dirty Thirty" are set to be decommissioned, noted the WWF, calling this a "historic window of opportunity to cut CO2 pollution."

Replacing them all with new coal power stations would result in a 13.5 percent cut in their total CO2 emissions by 2030, it said.

A shift to gas would slash their CO2 by 47.8 percent, while replacing them with renewable energy sources would result in a 73.4 percent cut.

Under the UN's Kyoto Protocol, industrial countries that have ratified the treaty are required to trim pollution of carbon gases by a deadline of 2012 as compared with a 1990 benchmark.

But this effort falls far sure of what is needed to avoid climate change, which could stoke a global disaster, scientists say.

The deal does not include the world's top polluter, the United States, nor developing countries such as China and India, where economic growth is driving up emissions.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dirtythirty; environment; europe; group; names; power; stations

1 posted on 10/03/2005 8:36:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Coal-fire power station. Coal-fired power stations in Greece, Germany and Spain top a new table of Europe's dirtiest electricity plants, the environmental group WWF International said.(AFP/File)


2 posted on 10/03/2005 8:38:49 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: blam; calcowgirl; Carry_Okie; ClearCase_guy; cogitator; CollegeRepublican; ...
ECO-PING

But this effort falls far sure of what is needed to avoid climate change, which could stoke a global disaster, scientists say. The deal does not include the world's top polluter, the United States, nor developing countries such as China and India, where economic growth is driving up emissions.

how about that for a blanket statement?

3 posted on 10/03/2005 8:41:58 PM PDT by GreenFreeper (FM me to be added to the Eco-Ping List)
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To: NormsRevenge; GreenFreeper
GENEVA (AFP) - Coal-fired power stations in Greece, Germany and Spain top a new table of Europe's dirtiest electricity plants, the environmental group WWF International said.

The WWF was founded with oil money.

4 posted on 10/03/2005 8:50:35 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are REALLY stupid.)
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To: Carry_Okie

A lot of environmental activists use their lobbying days to flesh out their resumés so they can work for oil companies and other manufacturers.


5 posted on 10/03/2005 9:09:04 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: coconutt2000
I don't doubt it a bit.
6 posted on 10/03/2005 9:14:12 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are REALLY stupid.)
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To: Carry_Okie; NormsRevenge
Top 50 Polluting Power Plants for SO2 (2003) Rank Facility State SO2 (tons) Rank Facility State SO2 (tons)

1 Bowen GA 164,881

2 W H Sammis OH 164,395

3 Keystone PA 163,493

4 Homer City PA 151,676

5 Hatfields Ferry Power Station PA 139,423

6 Muskingum River OH 139,119

7 Gibson IN 136,534

8 Conesville OH 133,207

9 E C Gaston AL 130,403

10 Montour PA 124,776

11 J M Stuart OH 124,198

12 John E Amos WV 114,017

13 Warrick IN 108,675

14 Paradise KY 108,462

15 Monroe MI 108,043

16 Roxboro NC 103,935

17 Fort Martin Power Station WV 102,521

18 Crystal River FL 101,673

19 Johnsonville TN 100,017

20 Cardinal OH 96,927

21 Wansley GA 93,977

22 Kingston TN 91,984

23 Marshall NC 90,990

24 Big Brown TX 86,338

25 Morgantown MD 85,340

26 Scherer GA 83,938

27 Monticello TX 82,439

28 Miami Fort OH 81,514

29 Chesterfield Power Station VA 80,549

30 Martin Lake TX 75,972

31 Brunner Island PA 73,730

32 Kyger Creek OH 72,341

33 Harllee Branch GA 69,827

34 Eastlake OH 67,682

35 Jeffrey Energy Center KS 67,611

36 Cayuga IN 66,961

37 Walter C Beckjord OH 64,869

38 Wabash River IN 64,593

39 W A Parish TX 60,678

40 Gorgas AL 59,341

41 Mitchell WV 59,330

42 Belews Creek NC 58,645

43 Colbert AL 57,480

44 E W Brown KY 56,745

45 Labadie MO 56,631

46 Coleman KY 55,449

47 E D Edwards IL 55,035

48 Rockport IN 53,561

49 R Gallagher IN 53,340

50 Tanner's Creek IN 53,174

7 posted on 10/03/2005 9:36:20 PM PDT by GreenFreeper (FM me to be added to the Eco-Ping List)
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To: GreenFreeper

Gotta love the Midwest, lol!


8 posted on 10/03/2005 9:36:58 PM PDT by GreenFreeper (FM me to be added to the Eco-Ping List)
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To: NormsRevenge
As far as the enviro's go, If it makes energy, it pollutes. I wish their was a corner in the world we could put them all in, where they could go cold in the winter, hot in the summer, eat uncooked tofu, sing folk songs and generally make each other miserable.
9 posted on 10/03/2005 10:02:36 PM PDT by oyez
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To: GreenFreeper
Top 50 Polluting Power Plants for SO2 (2003) Rank Facility State SO2 (tons) Rank Facility State SO2 (tons)

Typically stupid ranking for "polluting." Is that "tons," or "tons per megawatt hour"? It does make a difference.

This ranking structurally attacks larger plants (which makes sense if you are shilling for fuel oil or natural gas).

10 posted on 10/03/2005 10:07:34 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The environment is too complex and too important to manage by central planning.)
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To: NormsRevenge

I am sure all those countries signed the Kyoto Accord. They will be clean as a whistle in no time.


11 posted on 10/03/2005 11:14:20 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
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To: GreenFreeper

" how about that for a blanket statement?"

What till the ice age starts, they will need those blankets.
On the serious side. It has been long known about the huge pollution problems Europe have had. The governments allowed the companies to operate oil refinearies for instance with minimal or no anti-polution equipment. There are areas in Europe that are as bad as parts of New Jersey/Philadelphia/Neward where for many years. What are they supposed to do, close down everything, and go back to the stone age. Lots of serious problems with to few reasonable solutions.


12 posted on 10/04/2005 12:22:26 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned)
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