Dirty Business

Despite European plans to phase out coal-fired power stations, the coal industry is booming thanks to low and stable prices.

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If European and British politicians are to be believed, coal is yesterday’s fuel. Indeed, the government published plans last month for a sweeping reform of the electricity market designed to stop coal-fired power stations being built in this country. The same goes for continental Europe if it is to meet ambitious plans to reduce emissions.

The reality, however, is that coal is in more demand than ever. There are several reasons. One is price: coal is cheaper than gas and oil and the price is less volatile.

There is also a huge installed base. Today 41% of the world’s energy is produced by coal-fired power stations. The International Energy Agency, the adviser to advanced nations, predicts this will fall to 32% by 2035 but that still equates to an overall increase because of soaring global energy demand.

This will be driven mainly by China. “Over the next 15 years China is expected to add generating capacity equivalent to the current total installed capacity of the US,” the agency said.

Milton Catelin, chief executive of the World Coal Institute, said others will follow. “Coal’s share of global energy last year was the highest since 1972. It grew faster than any other fuel source because nothing in the modern world can match it in terms of certainty of supply and output.”

The problem is that coal is dirty. It releases more carbon dioxide per unit of energy generated than any other fuel. The European Union has tried to address this through the Emissions Trading Scheme, which forces polluters to buy permits for each tonne of carbon dioxide they produce.

Britain has gone even further. It has devised a system of subsidies for cleaner alternatives, such as wind and nuclear power, and additional penalties on carbon that, in effect, prohibit the building of any new coal-fired stations. It is due to put these into law by 2013.

An exception to the anti-coal scheme are plants fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which strips emissions from exhaust gases and buries them.

But CCS is costly and commercially unproven. A government competition to build a plant on an industrial scale was launched four years ago but has yet to find a suitable project.

The above are attempts to address what Nicholas Stern, author of the seminal study on the economics of climate change, called a “market failure on the greatest scale the world has seen”. That is the failure of markets to price in the effects of carbon emissions — floods, hurricanes, droughts — that cause billions in economic damage and human suffering.

Yet Europe is ploughing a lone furrow. The world’s two biggest burners of coal, America and China, have not signed up to binding reduction targets. Demand for cheap, plentiful energy still trumps any imperative to address climate change. And that means these are the salad days for coal.

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Constabulary photo e fit suffers a bad hair day

It should have been easy enough to spot the suspected criminals walking around with hair shaped like a lettuce and a fringe resembling a green barcode.

However the public alert for the unusual looking suspects was withdrawn yesterday when Hampshire Constabulary admitted it was experiencing “technical problems” with its e-fit software.

The police force came under fire for releasing “absolutely ridiculous” e-fits after a burglary suspect looked like he was wearing a lettuce on his head.

Officers said a technical problem caused the unusual hair colour and admitted it was not the “best quality”.However it appeared that the problem was more widespread after a series of images emerged with suspects sporting disastrous hairstyles and looking like computer characters from the 1990s.

A suspected robber, in his late teens, sported a fringe which looked like a barcode. Another alleged criminal appeared to have red eyes.

Hampshire Police issued the original e-fit, of the man with the lettuce-shaped hair, to try to trace a distraction burglar who stole £60 from an elderly woman in Stockbridge.Although the offender was described by his vctim as having wavy blonde/greying hair and being about 40 the image showed him with green hair and was described as “ludicrous” by residents.

A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: “We make every effort to ensure that the e-fits we circulate are as accurate and detailed as they possibly can be from the description provided by the witness.

“This is borne out by the quality and detail contained within the facial features.

“We are, though, currently experiencing technical problems with the quality of the hair and are waiting for an upgrade to the system from the company who provides us with the software.”

She went on: “We have a duty to do all we can to identify those involved in crime, prevent further occurrences and protect the public and while the hair on this image may not be of the best quality, it takes nothing from the overall clarity of the facial features.


“It would therefore be wrong to withhold the release of the e-fit just based on this technical issue.

“We would never release an e-fit a victim disagreed or was unhappy with and in this instance the victim fully supported the publication of this image.”

Detective Constable Danielle Robinson said: “I would like to hear from anyone who has information about this incident or who recognises the man in the e-fit image as he may be able to help with our inquiries.”

A local resident said: “It seems like the force has some gremlins in its system, but anyone could’ve looked at the images and seen how stupid they look.

“How people are expected to identify these suspects when their e-fits look like pictures my three year old son drew with a crayon is beyond me.

“It seems like it’s been going on for a while and Hampshire Constabulary need to sort it out.”