Abstract

Key words for the future energy direction must be clean, CO2-free, renewable, and sustainable. Since solid fuels are still abundant and relatively cheap, it is inevitable to use solid fuels as an interim medium until energy plants can meet the future technological demand. Solid fuels are targets of scaling down in many countries by environmental issues of fine particulate or dioxin, etc. There are several Korean cases that are worthy of discussion in terms of environmental performance using solid fuels compared to the legal emission standards, and related NIMBY issues. Future direction clearly indicates that any energy plants using solid fuels should prepare to the emission level of large-scale coal-fired power plants and to the ever-increasing NIMBY case. It necessitates early adaptation to the related best available technologies as well as the in-depth study on possible options such as underground installation with near pollution-free configuration.

Keywords:Energy plant; Solid fuel; Emission level; NIMBY

Abbreviations: NIMBY: Not-In-My-Back-Yard; NG: Natural Gas; SRF: Solid Refuse Fuel; BAT: Best-Available- Technology