Adverse effects

Emissions to the air

Emissions are released during the combustion of fuels for electricity production. This applies to all fuels that Nuon uses to generate electricity: coal, natural gas, biomass and blast furnace gas. The combustion process for the generation of electricity converts carbon, sulphur and nitrogen into carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). These substances have a detrimental impact on the environment and the climate.

Various technologies can effectively limit the emission of these substances: catalysts and scrubbers can be used to clean flue gases; efficient combustion technologies can suppress the formation of nitrogen oxides; and fuel gasification technology can reduce environmentally harmful emissions even further.

We employ a combination of technologies and strategies to limit harmful emissions. At present, we are investing in the development of innovative solutions to capture CO2, which will make the storage of CO2 possible. In addition, we are constantly seeking to improve the efficiency of our installations because fuel savings always lead to fewer emissions.

Emissions to water

Heat is released during the production of electricity. This heat is often removed with the aid of cooling water. Virtually all Nuon power stations are cooled with surface water. The discharged water has a higher temperature than the surface water receiving the discharge. This has an impact on the aquatic environment. Thermal discharge permits are granted subject to restrictive conditions to ensure that the discharge has no significant effects.

The amount of thermal discharge from power plants can be reduced through the delivery of district heating. In this case, the residual heat serves to heat water that is used for district heating. The delivery of district heating does, however, cause a slight decrease in electricity production. Another consideration is that there must also be sufficient demand for district heating before the construction of the required infrastructure and the actual delivery can be commenced. Even with district heating, part of the residual heat will inevitably end up in the surface water.

Dealing with power plant waste

Residual substances are produced at the power plants where coal is burned or gasified (the Hemweg and Buggenum plants respectively). Part of these residual substances can be put to good use as raw materials for other products. The sulphur that comes out of the coal combustion process at the Hemweg plant, for instance, is captured and converted via a chemical process into gypsum for application as a construction material. At the Buggenum plant, the sulphur compounds are converted into elementary sulphur, which is used as a raw material in the chemical industry. Fly ash and bottom ash are applied in the cement road building sectors, among others.

The amounts of residual substances depend on the volume of energy produced and the raw materials used for production. This explains the variances from one year to the next. Residual substances must meet certain criteria to qualify for re-use. This is taken into account in the production process.

GreenOffice

We have launched the GreenOffice programme to make our own working environment more sustainable in terms of energy consumption, mobility, office equipment and supplies and catering.

We are studying ways to move towards a climate-neutral head office. We use Nuon NatuurStroom in all our buildings, have determined the energy labels for these buildings and closely monitor the energy consumption within them. Various energy-saving measures are also being applied.

In September 2008, Nuon signed the Mobility Management Covenant for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region. In this covenant, we stated our ambition to achieve a 10% reduction in our employees’ peak hour kilometres by the year 2012.

Nuon has taken various measures to reduce the carbon footprint of its own vehicle fleet. We use only vehicles with A, B or C energy labels and are increasing the share of retrofit smoke filters in diesel cars. We also offset all CO2 emissions from our company and lease vehicle fleet with Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER) certificates.