Lafarge plans UK wind farm
Lafarge plans a wind farm as well as carbon capture and storage in Britain as the energy intensive sector faces an uphill struggle to cut its carbon footprint.
The company says it is taking the lead for the industry, with Britain setting an ambitious target of cutting carbon emissions by 2050, in addition to a 20 per cent cut by 2020 among EU members.
"The 80-per cent reduction by 2050 is like climbing up the Mount Everest," Jim Rushworth, UK Lafarge’s Business Sustainabiliby Manager of UK Lafarge Cement told Reuters. "It’s a challenge, but a challenge that can be met."
Lafarge plans to build a wind farm for its cement plant in Dunbar, near Edinburgh. It is monitoring wind and investigating its environmental impacts for erecting three turbines of 3MW each. It will be Lafarge’s second wind farm after one in Morocco.
Lafarge is also hoping to take part in Britain’s future carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure, aimed to capture greenhouse gas emissions, transport and pump them into depleted gas and oil fields in the North Sea.
"Things like CCS would help to reduce carbon emissions...It’s important that we are part of that solution," said Rushworth, adding it was also looking into a research into carbon capture with its European peers.
Rushworth would not give further details on its CCS project in Europe, which he said was at an early stage. Helped by soaring energy prices, Rushworth said, Lafarge had already cut its UK carbon emissions by 30 per cent between 1990 and 2007.
Source: Reuters Published under Cement News
