Limiting polluting discharges : Various devices already exist to limit SOx and NOx emissions, in particular through smoke treatment technologies.
Reduce CO2 emissions : By improving the efficiency of installations, it is already possible to emit less CO2 per kWh produced. Pulverized coal technologies in the supercritical cycle allow a significant improvement, which could be reinforced by 2015-2020, with the "ultra-supercritical" thermodynamic cycle.
CO2 capture and sequestration :
• Capture technologies under development are not yet ready to be generalized and will not be before 2020.
• sequestration could make coal a clean fuel contributing to the improvement of the overall balance sheet GHG emissions, provided that the unsolved problems are resolved (social acceptance of a hazardous waste storage solution, profitability, efficiency of capture).
Gas is a non-renewable fossil fuel. Natural gas reserves are larger than petroleum reserves, but they are also poorly distributed geographically (2/3 being concentrated in Russia).
