Green Issues for Singapore General Elections 2011 – #1 Coal

A series of green issues that could be discussed at the Singapore General Elections 2011. The first issue (not in order of importance) is on the use of coal.

What are the political parties’ stand on the use of coal in Singapore and the implications on our carbon emissions target and our clean and green image?

Tuas Power’s coal plant

Read the chronology of the clean coal and biomass cogeneration plant by Tuas Power.

Tuas Power’s new coal and biomass plant at Jurong Island would start operations mid next year, and the company has signed a contract with Indonesia’s PT Bayan Resources to supply 13.36 million tonnes of sub-bituminous coal over the next 15 years from Kalimantan, and has also struck a deal with South Korea’s Samtam Co Ltd to supply coal. Tuas Power is also concluding a deal for the palm kernel, which makes up the 20% biomass component of the plant feedstock (the other 80% is coal).

If a calculation is done only for the coal supplied by PT Bayan Resources, and excluding the coal from Samtam Co Ltd and the palm biomass, the combustion of 13.36 million tonnes of sub-bituminous coal would emit about 24 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s calculation tool). Read more

Clean Coal and Biomass Cogeneration Plant by Tuas Power: A Chronology

This is a chronology of the news and responses on Tuas Power’s clean coal and biomass cogeneration plant.

14 Mar 08 – Tuas Power sold to China Huaneng Group (Temasek successfully completes divestment of Tuas Power by Temasek Holdings)

27 Mar 08 – Tuas Power announced that it is looking at building a $2 billion coal-fired plant (Tuas Power may build $2b coal-fired plant by Business Times)

2 Apr 08 – We think it is highly possible that Tuas Power would take the coal route and expressed our concerns (Red dot goes black? by AsiaIsGreen)

26 Sep 08 – Tuas Power announced plans to build a $2 billion steam and electricity production plant to run on clean coal and biomass on Jurong Island (Tuas Power to build $2b ‘clean’ plant by Straits Times) Read more

Sustainable Materials: Plastics Made From Corn and Biomass

Venue: Lecture Theatre 5, National University of Singapore, Engineering
Drive 2, Engineering Faculty

Look around us and the merits and problems of petroleum plastics are abundant. Issues range from the extraction process from crude oil, the additives and stabilizers that are toxic, the incineration of plastics which releases more green house gases, the non-biodegradability and harm to wildlife and pollution.

But today, there exist technologies where plastics can be made from sustainable raw materials such as corn, sugarcane and biomass. They have the added advantage of being naturally biodegradable and recyclable. Singapore has its own start ups (Olive Green, Grenidea) investing in these materials. Products currently include food packaging, utensils, credit cards, crockery and clothing.

We can abolish plastic pollution and also move away from oil. Discuss about these issues at this seminar with Olive Green founder Aloysius Cheong and polymer expert and deputy director of A*STAR, Professor PK Wong.

For details and registration, visit http://energycarta-seminars.wikispaces.com/.

Tuas Power vs Senoko Power

Which power plant is greener? Tuas Power or Senoko Power?

Tuas Power is building a clean coal and biomass plant:

Mr Lim Kong Puay, chief executive of Tuas Power, said: “The efficient use of the cogeneration technology coupled with biomass and clean coal allows us to achieve savings, and this saving will be passed on to our industrial consumers.”

‘Overall, we are able to produce one unit of energy at a more competitive cost,’ said Tuas Power president and CEO Lim Kong Puay.

Senoko Power is converting its plants from oil-fired to gas-fired:

Senoko had considered using coal, which is a cheaper fuel, Mr Adair said, but was very conscious of its carbon footprint which is two-and-a-half times that of natural gas. On the other hand, the carbon footprint of gas is also only 60 per cent that of oil. The genco will be seeking carbon credits for the project, he added.

Tuas Power is building Singapore’s first ‘clean coal’ power plant

Tuas Power is going ahead with its plan to build Singapore’s first clean coal and biomass plant. We expressed concerns about Tuas Power’s proposed plans in our previous post, Red dot goes black?, and our worries have come true.

We wrote the following letter to The Straits Times to express our concerns about the use of coal by Tuas Power:

I refer to the article, “Tuas Power to build $2b ‘clean’ plant” by Clarissa Oon (ST Sep 26).

Clean coal is an oxymoron as coal is associated with multiple environmental problems such as habitat destruction, acid rain and global warming. Burning coal produces higher levels of carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulates and mercury.

With these environmental impacts in mind, Tuas Power and the National Environment Agency need to reassure the public and concerned environmentalists on the use of coal in the new plant.

Would the new plant meet the relevant air emissions and environmental regulations? Are carbon emissions per kilowatt hour higher for the new plant as compared to a natural gas-fired plant? Would the use of coal in the new plant lead to greater use of coal by other power generation companies?

This switch to using coal by Tuas Power seems to contradict the government’s efforts and plans on sustainable development. The new plant should not increase Singapore’s environmental impacts, especially our carbon emissions. If not, it would seem that we are moving one step forward and two steps backward on our green efforts.