Cement News tagged under: Environmental

RSS feed

Europe – Saving energy-intensive industry billions

26 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Next month, the European Union (EU) is expected to approve the “linking directive”, an amendment to its emissions trading scheme (ETS) that has the potential to save energy intensive industries billions of euros in carbon reduction costs. Under the amendment, EU companies would be allowed to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by means of projects in non-EU countries and use the carbon credits from those projects to trade in the CO2 market. This directive is particularly important to count...

UK – Greenhouse gas levels still increasing

26 March 2004, Published under Cement News

As more coal was burned in power stations and electricity imports from the continent fell, the Scotland increased its carbon emissions by 1.5 per cent between 2002 and 2003. However, UK levels remained lower than in 2001. Carbon dioxide emissions during 2003 stood at 152.5Mt, seven per cent below the 1990 benchmark. The UK is committed to lower its carbon dioxide levels by 20 per cent of this benchmark level by 2010 and by 60 per cent by 2050.

Italcementi, CNR Join European Research Project

25 March 2004, Published under Cement News

The technical centre of Italian cement producer and distributor Italcementi Group and the IT institute of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) have joined a 3.4 mln euro ($4.2 mln) European test project Photocatalytic Innovative Coverings Applications for Depollution Assessment (PICADA), it was reported on March 15, 2004.  European consortia of private enterprises, research institutes and the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) run the project set to combat air pollution...

Albania – Elbasan Cement ordered to close

25 March 2004, Published under Cement News

The Albanian government has ordered the closure of Elbasan Cement Factory, along with two other industrial plants, due to its environmental concerns as well as fining each company ALL500,000 (US$4700). The Environment Ministry said the companies did not comply with the requirement to take environmental pollution control measures, a fact denied by the cement producer. Elbasan Cement Factory said it is currently investing US$811,000 in a filter installation for its chimney. Elbasan is ...

Garadag cement pays fine

24 March 2004, Published under Cement News

BAKU: Garadagh Cement has paid the State Environmental Fund of Azerbaijan AzM350m, Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Hussein Baghirov informed reporters.  ’The new management of the company paid the fine of their own accord’, Minister Baghirov mentioned.  This fine was paid for violation of the environmental protection requirements and rules at the truss mine of Garadagh Cement in Tovuz province of Azerbaijan. The company was discarding the fertile soil layer while digging for tr...

Cement firms prepare to replace coal

24 March 2004, Published under Cement News

The South African cement industry is set to embark on a multi-million rand project to systematically replace some of the coal used in its kilns with alternative, waste-derived fuels. The first waste material to be targeted is scrap tyres – regarded as a major environmental problem by the government, where it has been estimated that more than 22-million scrap tyres are now stockpiled in one region alone. The cement sector’s plans to locally implement the global trend of partially firing kilns...

Maine legislator joins plant protest

24 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Adding to the inter-state opposition to St. Lawrence Cement’s plans to build a cement plant in Hudson, the majority leader of Maine’s Senate, Sharon Anglin Treat, has expressed ’’profound concerns’’ in a letter to New York Gov. George Pataki.  After meeting with the Poughkeepsie-based environmental group Scenic Hudson, she wrote Pataki March 5 with concerns about how the plant would affect air quality in the Northeast.  St. Lawrence Cement wants to close a 1960s-era cement plant in Catskill, ...

Lafarge plan may drive tourists away

22 March 2004, Published under Cement News

UK: Locals are vowing to fight a planned quarry extension, which they say will be disastrous for Westbury’s White Horse.  Lafarge Cement hopes to double the size of its stone quarry, just below the town’s famous attraction, but some residents fear this will drive tourists away from the beauty spot.  The cement firm owns mineral rights to the area and is expected to lodge a formal planning application with Wiltshire County Council in the next few months. Before this bosses have been in prelim...

Cut costs with rice husk fuels

19 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Asia’s cement makers are cutting their fossil fuel consumption and turning to the rice paddy across the street for a greener, cheaper and potentially more abundant fuel to heat their kilns. Cement plants in the world’s largest rice exporters, Thailand and India, have started to replace coal with rice husks that would have otherwise been incinerated and dumped in landfills. Offering savings of millions of dollars a year, other rice producers such as China - the world’s largest cement produce...

Portugal proposes 39Mt in CO2 licences

18 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Portugal has proposed emission of 39Mt of carbon dioxide from 2005 to 2007 under a European Union plan on output of greenhouse gasses, according to a preliminary proposal made available on Wednesday.  The national allocation plan comes ahead of an end-March EU deadline to submit proposals on quotas for carbon dioxide emissions, believed to be a key factor in climate change.  Of Portugal’s total, the power sector would get about 27Mt and the cement sector 7Mt. The ceramics industry would have ...