I read today in the Guardian that Drax, the UK’s largest power station, powered by coal, and providing up to 7% of the UK’s electricity, has launched a project to replace 10% of the coal it uses with biomass.

Basically, a powder made of materials such as wood chips, sunflower husks and grasses, will be injected into the coal-fired furnaces, thus reducing the amount of coal burnt on a daily basis. As biomass is regarded as carbon neutral, this also reduces the overall amount of co2 emissions from the power plant, helping Drax on the way to their target of reducing their emissions by 15% by 2012. The first stage should go live around 2010 (though watch this space for confirmation of that part). If it works out, the amount of biomass injected could be increased, reducing emissions even further.

Ok, so they’re still going to be burning masses of coal, but this is still a positive step in the right direction rather than no steps at all. It is also a realistic step, that will have an effect in 2-3 years rather than building a nuclear power station, which will have an effect in 10 years or so.

The problem we have with power today is that we need it, and more and more of it, and we need it to be reliable too. There is no immediate solution that can enable us to replace current co2 emitting power stations with oh so clean and 100% reliable solutions, or at least not unless we install millions of wind turbines, solar panels and tidal flow generators, completely ignoring the sometimes reasonable cries of those who believe they have a negative effect on the environment. What’s more, these solutions still have their issues - no wind, no sun, up and down tides don’t make for regular supplies.

So for now, every step forwards however small is positive, and I for one welcome a potential 10% reduction in emissions from Drax. Here’s to 2 further steps: increasing the reduction to 20% and, more importantly, doing the same for all the other coal burning power stations in the UK and, more importantly, the world. This will give us time to work on the more long-term, reliable renewable solutions we need.