Environmental Report 2000 - EnBW

Further Information
Combating global warming by preventing pollutant emission
The last piece of scientific evidence might still be lacking to prove beyond doubt that the
greenhouse effect is the cause of global warming. But it still makes sound sense to take
precautions and limit emissions of greenhouse gases. The recently published third Scientific
Report of the UN predicts a rise in temperature of between 1.4 – 5.8 °C by the end of
the century.
The Federal Republic of Germany has
committed itself to reducing the
emission of greenhouse gases by
21% compared to the 1990 level by
2012.
In 2000, Germany succeeded in recording
a noticeable drop of 15% in
CO2 in the atmosphere compared to
1990. This was largely due to efforts
of industry (minus 31%) and the energy
sector (minus 16%). In the same
period CO2 emission levels from private
households and traffic grew by
between 6% and 11%.
A voluntary commitment to
climate protection
Last year within the framework of the
Climate Agreement of German Industry,
German energy companies reaffirmed
the voluntary commitment to
climate protection they made in 1995.
As a further supplement to this, we
are participating in the “Action Programme
of the Energy Industry for the
Protection of the Climate”, through
which the electricity industry will
make a pledge to the government to
promote cogeneration concepts and
other measures for the reduction of
CO2 emissions with the objective of
preventing the emission of up to 45
million tonnes of CO2 by 2012.
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We have played an active and varied
role in helping to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions – for instance through
our use of nuclear and hydroelectric
power. In 2000 our overall nuclear
energy production quota was 41.3%
(own production 55%) and our hydroelectric
power production quota was
10.6% (own production 13.9%).
Making more use of “water
power”
We were able to achieve this high
level of CO2 -free electricity production
by increasing our purchasing
quota of hydroelectric power by 30%.
This represents an equivalent saving
of around 31.7 million tonnes of CO2. However, the lignite power station in
Lippendorf in Saxony, in which we
have a 432 megawatt stake, is now
operating throughout the year for the
first time and this has increased our
overall CO2 emission by around 2 million
tonnes: a consequence of the
politically driven investment EnBW
has made to sustain jobs in east
Germany.
At 225 grams per kilowatt hour, the
CO2 emission factor for our own production
is still 60% below the mean
value for Germany.
We intend to further strengthen our
commitment to energies from renewable
sources, to reduce CO2 emission
levels by more limited use of the old
units 5 and 6 in Heilbronn and to continue
to employ sewage sludge as a
substitute fuel.
Our non-domestic activities with our
company holdings and the transfer of
know-how are in line with the Kyoto
Protocol provisions for the reduction
of CO2 emissions. Thus, we are helping
to improve production efficiency
at the Matra lignite power plant in
Hungary whilst our holdings in Czech
and Polish companies give us leverage
to promote the expansion of
district heating systems. In Thailand,
too, we have acquired holdings in
companies constructing the technologically
advanced gas-fired gas-andsteam
plants.
Commissioned by the Ministry for the
Environment in Baden Württemburg
in conjunction with EnBW, the Fraunhofer
Institute in Karlsruhe is producing
a manual on the use of the flexible
instruments of the Kyoto Protocol.
Concrete EnBW projects will
serve to illustrate the issues involved
in the approval of projects under the
definitions of the Kyoto Protocol. The
manual will be published in 2001.
Environmental protection costs money
EnBW has spent € 64 million for environmental protection in the energy sector.
And, despite the pressure of competition, we also increased expenditure on
environmental protection by 25% in 2000.
Over the past few years our main investment
priorities have been for the
protection of water and promotion of
clean air. Last year costs in these areas
amounted to approx. € 5.4 million.
Avoided CO2 Emissions
through EnBW electricity generation using
non-fossil primary energy
in million tonnes a year
31.4 31.3
30
30.6
27.5
28.6
25
20
15
10
5
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Nuclear Power
Hydropower
Compared with last year, investments
and operating costs for environmental
protection facilities have increased by
25% to € 64 million. This increase in
outlay is due to the extensive preventive
maintenance inspections of the
flue gas cleaning plants and the cooling
tower at the Heilbronn plant. The
modernisation of the cooling tower at
Philippsburg is being continued.
The “water pfennig”, which contrary
to the rules of fair competition is only
levied in this amount in Baden Württemburg
for the use of ground and
surface water, cost us around € 18
million in 2000.
From overall expenditure on the environment
3.4% went for disposal and
treatment, 42% for water protection,
49% for clean air protection and noise
abatement, 5.1% for nature conservation,
0.1% for soil protection and 0.4%
for environmental management (EMS).
Environmental protection measures in
our power plants last year cost over
€ 60 million and thus accounted fort
the lion’s share of our environmental
investment outlay followed by the Regionalgesellschaft
company with its
key investment of € 1.9 million for the
protection of birds.
Waste T€ 2,175
Water T€ 26,841
Air T€ 31,271
Noise T€ 37
Nature T€ 3,283
Soil T€ 75
EMS T€ 243
Total T€ 63,925
T = Thousand
Outlay for Environmetal Protection
in thousand €
Air
31,271
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Nature 3,283
Noise, Soil
and EMS 355
Waste 2,175
Water
26,841
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