As this column was written, the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen was in full flow, and we await with interest its findings and conclusions. Certainly, as has been reported in IM much of this year, industrial minerals already, and will increasingly, play a significant role in growing and new applications in renewable and new energy sources, as well as in environmental protection.
However, it is also notable that measures implemented in reaction to climate change legislation might threaten a well established use of industrial minerals in protecting the environment that of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD).
Early December 2009 saw one of the USA’s leading power suppliers, Exelon Power, announce its decision to permanently retire two coal-fired units each at its Cromby and Eddystone facilities in May 2011 (see p.6).
The...