One simple way that coal plant managers can adopt is to simply replace part of the coal they load into their plants (up to 20%) with dried biomass like sawdust, wood chips, dried walnut shells, etc.

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The wheezing, steam-powered devices that we used to have to load with coal before starting up would soon be the preserve of historians and cranks.

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For example, the first phase of the EU Emissions Trading program, which contained several design flaws that have since been rectified, has already been found to have reduced emissions by around 100 million tonnes of CO2 mostly by forcing a shift of load from coal to gas power plants and providing an incentive for inefficient coal plants to improve the thermal efficiency of their boilers.

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