Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity and heat production rise in spite of lower consumption

Poor biofuel availability replaced by more burning of coal last year

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Carbon dioxide emissions in Finland grew unexpectedly last year, even though consumption of electricity declined because of the recession.
      Growth in emissions are a Finnish peculiarity. In most countries, lower use of energy has usually meant a reduction in emissions.
      Finnish Energy Industries (ET), which represents producers of electricity and district heat, said on Wednesday that industry last year used 16 percent less energy than in 2008.
      However, households, the service sector, and the public sector increased their consumption of electricity by two per cent. Consequently, the total decline in consumption was seven per cent.
     
Electricity consumption last year was 81 terawatt hours, down from 87 TWh in 2008.
      In spite of this, emissions from the burning of coal, natural gas, and peat for energy grew by five per cent to 12.7 million tonnes.
      ET Managing Director Juha Naukkarinen says that the reason for this is that more coal was burned for the production of electricity, while there were difficulties in getting biological fuels to power plants. Coal was also partly used to replace natural gas.
     
There was also less hydroelectric power available, with output declining by a quarter from the record level in 2008.
      Imports of electricity from other Nordic countries declined, but imports from Russia increased by eight per cent, setting a new record.
      Even during the coldest days of December, Russian imports of electricity were in full swing, because the decreased need of electricity by Russian industry has led to decreased domestic demand in Russia.
      Industry accounted for just 45 per cent of Finnish electricity consumption - a record low.
      The colder temperatures at the end of the year led to increased demand for district heating, and its sales increased by ten per cent from last year to EUR 1.8 billion.
     
The same trend that was seen in electricity production also applied to district heat: biological fuels were replaced by coal, and more oil was used than in 2008.
      Consequently, emissions from district heating grew by 12 per cent, which is a higher percentage than the growth in sales of heat. Carbon dioxide emissions from district heat production totalled 7.4 million tonnes.
      According to Finnish Energy Industries, the main problem with the availability of biofuel is its transport. There is sufficient wood available, and the capacity of the power plants would be enough to cover the added output. “Transport is a bottleneck. The present system is designed for the needs of the forest industry”, says ET director Jari Kostamo.


Links:
  Finnish Energy Industries Press Release: Electricity year 2009

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