The main pollutant, sulphur dioxide, was linked to coal burning which was said to have reached exceptional levels.
The EU's statistical agency Eurostat estimates that from 2011 to 2012, CO2 emissions increased by 3.9% in the UK. The rise is most likely to be due to increased coal burning.
It would also offer large environmental benefits because gas emits few conventional pollutants, and only about half as much carbon dioxide as the main transitional alternative: continued coal burning.
Dr McConnell believes the picture of the last few years captured by his Greenland core suggests this renewed interest in coal burning is leading to an upturn in heavy metal input to the part of the Arctic he has studied.
"When we compare changes in the black carbon to changes in these other indicators, it is clear that most of the increases in black carbon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in winter and spring, resulted from industrial emissions - probably from coal burning, " he added.
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This is in contrast to the situation in electricity production, where gas-burning plants are cheaper to build than coal-burning ones.
And powdered lignin can be added to pulverized coal for burning in power plants.
Its increase in coal-burning is increasing almost as much as nuclear, wind and hydro combined.
Coal-burning power stations have cut output significantly, while gas-burning has surged ahead, faster than renewables.
There are 25 of them--enough to mount a congressional filibuster blocking any measures that inordinately hurt coal-burning utilities.
Health experts say coal-burning power plants produce far more pollution linked to respiratory health problems than natural gas-fired plants produce.
The emissions licensing regime, shortening the lifespan of coal-burning power stations, has already begun to take big lumps out of capacity.
Furnaces could no longer emit "dark smoke" and households were offered grants towards the cost of converting their coal-burning grates to smokeless fuel.
Proponents point to the particulates released by coal-burning power plants, which, according to some estimates, cause 20, 000 premature deaths annually in the U.S. alone.
The latest subsidy changes mean that for many firms it's not worthwhile building bespoke biomass power stations, but it is worthwhile converting some existing coal-burning stock.
Coal-burning power plants may get a new life and one that is tied to the co-firing of biomass, or wood chips, that may result in less pollution.
Beijing catches so much of the pollution from coal-burning power plants because it sits at the center of a ring of mountains, which help trap the smog.
McCarthy would succeed Lisa Jackson, who was repeatedly forced to defend her EPA stance favoring tougher federal standards on toxic pollutants and mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants.
Chastened, in 1995 Ertel joined the then-new pollution desk at Natsource, where he sold sulfur dioxide credits in a market created by tough U.S. regulations on coal-burning utilities.
Chastened, in 1995 Ertel joined the then new pollution desk at Natsource, where he sold sulfur dioxide credits in a market created by tough U.S. regulations on coal-burning utilities.
The effect was multiplied by the creation of coal-burning locomotives and the rise of the railroads (thanks again to profit-seekers, such as George Stephenson) and ultimately by oil and the rise of cars, trucks, and airplanes.
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Two summers ago, a truckload of Beijing municipal workers turned up in my neighborhood and began unspooling heavy-duty black power lines, which they attached to our houses, in preparation for a campaign to replace coal-burning furnaces with electric radiators.
We honestly believe, as do most analysts, that it's not too long into the future before the price curves of technologies like standard photovoltaic solar and some upcoming breakthroughs are at cost parity with conventionally -- like, coal-burning-generated electricity.
CNN: Transcript of June 'CNN Money Summit: Money & Main St.'
Kinder says he's looking for other pipeline partnerships to buy, and Kinder Morgan is expanding into terminals that handle coal and other dry bulk materials, hoping to capitalize on long-term trends such as the shift by electric utilities away from Appalachian coal toward cleaner- burning western coal.
The World Coal Association (WCA), a trade body for the industry, said that burning coal account for about 24% of global mercury emissions and the use of "adequate technologies" could reduce emissions of the metal from coal-fired power stations by up to 90%.
Not only is there no clean coal now, there is no practical technology on the horizon that will produce electricity by burning coal in a manner than is cost competitive and eliminates emissions.
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Dr Alamaro wants to use a gas-burning, rather than a coal- or oil-burning plant, because the exhaust produced by burning natural gas is free from sulphur dioxide, which plants hate.
These are already cheaper and cleaner than burning coal, oil and gas with all their pollutants, especially CO2.
Burning coal is the single greatest cause of mercury contamination in the environment.
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