KEY
MESSAGE
Given its host of by-products (solid wastes, emissions and discharges), and
taking into full consideration the availability and effectiveness of pollution control technologies, coal fired power plants are not desirable from a strict environmental perspective.
There are significant stressors from CFPPs that may result in adverse environmental impacts.
The smokestacks serving the boiler produce harmful pollutants due to the use of bituminous and subbituminous coal. Aside from the emissions from smokestacks, other CFPP by-products from coal combustion such as wastewater, ash and leachate also discharges into the environment significant stressors such as selenium, mercury and arsenic to name a few.
CFPPs also use an inordinate amount of water to turn turbines and to cool the thermoelectric plants. These unnatural inputs to the environment and considerable usage of natural resources lead to climate change, air, water and soil pollution, and acid rain.
The particular environmental stressors that CFPPs produce are as follows:
There are established measures and technologies, however, to reduce the stressors.
The current trend for CFPPs is to increase efficiencies and use more mature technologies for pollution control. The following are technologies employed by CFPPs to minimize the identified stressors and decrease the impacts:
Established measures and technologies to reduce stressors and address environmental impacts of coal-fired power plants
Some local CFPPs have adopted these mature technologies and systems to reduce environmental impacts. In compliance with the DENR and World Bank standards, the Sual Power Station, located near the Lingayen Gulf in Sual, Pangasinan, supposedly operates with some of the above mentioned technologies.
Mitigating technologies to sincerely reduce the stressors and by-products of coal-fired power plants as well as optimize coal use, however, does not deny the clearly polluting nature of coal.
