VGB PowerTech: Greenpeace study on coal power stations masks significant findings

- Percentage of aerosols emitted by European coal power stations is in single figures - VGB Compendium on "Health relevance – Environmental health aspects of power generation from coal" proves: Air quality is practically not or only marginally influenced by additional immissions from coal power stations
  • Percentage of aerosols emitted by European coal power stations is in single figures
  • VGB Compendium on "Health relevance - Environmental health aspects of power generation from coal" proves: Air quality is practically not or only marginally influenced by additional immissions from coal power stations

The proportion of aerosols emitted by European coal power stations amounts to only a few percentage points of the total aerosol emissions caused by human beings (dust < 4 % and aerosols  < 6 %, source: UBA, continuous). This is shown by the values for the EU-27 (European Union). The Greenpeace study presented today "Death through the chimney - how coal power stations ruin our health" simply does not take into account such important facts and further significant findings on the topic of aerosols. Whosoever acts like that is not interested in a serious debate but rather in discrediting coal as an energy source, emphasises the VGB PowerTech, the technical association of the electricity and heat producing companies in Europe.

The European power plant operators have achieved notable success regarding the reduction of emissions due to extensive modernisation measures of existing plants and the appropriate design of newly built plants. In the past two decades, for example, the total emission of sulphur dioxide (SO2) was reduced in the EU by more than 80 % and that of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and aerosols by about 50 % (European Environment Agency, October 2012). These figures do not factor in substantial successes achieved even before 1990 e.g. in the Federal Republic of Germany: dust, SOx and NOx emissions were reduced here by up to 90% between 1980 and 1990 (VDEW, 2002). The results of applying state-of-the-art technology are even more apparent when we consider the specific emissions (emission per generated kilowatt per hour of electricity). Here the values are consistently below a fifth of their comparable value in 1990.

Crucial in terms of health risks are not the emissions, but rather the amount of harmful substances in-haled by people as well as their potential hazard. Here the close proximity to the source as well as the type of aerosol particle play an important role. According to experts, this means that exhaust fumes from traffic, residential heating systems and other industrial processes must be considered above all.

VGB PowerTech has assigned the preparation of the "Compendium concerning health relevance - Environmental health aspects of power generation from coal" to the TÜV Rhineland Industrial Service GmbH and Professor Thomas Eikmann (University of Gießen). Numerous experts from the fields of environmental and health protection, occupational medicine, environmental toxicology and environmental technology were involved in compiling the German-English paper which spans 130 pages. From long-term results of monitoring data collected over years they conclude that it may be assumed that the air quality (pre-load) is practically not or only marginally changed through additional immissions (additional load)from coal power stations.

This is mainly independent of whether the coal power station lies in an area with a low or higher immission preload. Furthermore, the comprehensive study data show that in spite of decade long operation, there is no relevant accumulation of harmful substances (due to deposition) in the environmental media. There are therefore no indications for the clustered occurrence of cancer, respiratory diseases or allergies in the data at hand, which will continue to be recorded and analysed at VGB PowerTech.
Anyone who deals intensively with the topic of the emissions of coal fired power plants must not simply ignore such findings simply because they do not fit the agenda of their energy policy.

Download the Compendium here:

pdficon Compendium concerning health relevance - Environmental health aspects of power generation from coal (1.83 MB)

 

VGB PowerTech e.V. is the European technical association for power and heat generators and is domiciled in Essen, Germany. The 508 members from 36 countries represent a power plant output of 530,000 MW, 471000 MW of that in Europe.

The Competence Centre of VGB handles technical issues regarding all technologies of electricity generation.