Key Figures
Our GRI Content Index contains more information about how these figures were calculated.
Compared to the previous year, our power plants produced more electricity from renewable sources in 2007. The percentage of the group’s total energy generated using renewables rose from around nine percent to ten percent.
In 2007, more fuel was used for power generation than in 2005, however the amount of natural gas used decreased slightly.
In 2007, E.ON emitted 121.3 million tons of CO2, which represents an increase of 8.6 million tons compared to the previous year. Our Central Europe market unit’s CO2 emissions rose in 2007 due to an overall increase in electricity generation as well as a rise in the percentage of coal-fired generation. The Market unit U.K. also increased the power output and operated some fossil plants on higher loads than in 2006. The Market Unit Pan-European Gas’s CO2 emissions in connection with the distribution of natural gas were 0.4 million tons.
Since 1990, our carbon intensity has decreased from 0.72 to 0.50 t/MWh. This represents an improvement of almost 30 percent. The Nordic market unit has made particularly good progress: it was once again able to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. Nordic’s CO2 emissions fell from 0.14 metric tons per MWh in 2003 to 0.01 in 2007. This is mainly due to Nordic’s commitment to nuclear, hydroelectric and renewable energies.
E.ON were allocated 76 million tons of CO2 allowances per year for the period 2005 – 2007. That is a lower amount than was emitted in 2007 by the E.ON power plants involved in emissions trading (87.5 million tons).
E.ON Group’s SO2 emissions fell by around three percent between 2005 and 2007, to 235.6 kilotons. Mainly due to switching to low-sulfur coal at E.ON UK’s Ironbridge, Ratcliffe and Kingsnorth power stations and the full-year deployment of improved flue-gas desulphurization equipment at E.ON Central Europe.
In 2007, E.ON Group was able to reduce NOX emissions to 143.5 kilotons despite a rise in energy generation. This fall is primarily due to the launch of a catalytic converter at the Maasvlakte power plant (E.ON Benelux) as well as improvements made to other plants.
Between 2005 and 2007 we reduced our dust emissions by around seven percent to 7.7 kilotons. In comparison to the previous year, emissions fell at all market units. The reduction at E.ON Energie is due to corrections at several coal-fired power stations, particularly to the introduction of new measuring methods resulting from regulatory changes.
Nuclear emissions
Nuclear emissions in 2006 were 1.7 x 1013 becquerel (2006: 1.7 x 1013, 2005:3.7 x 1013 ) at E.ON Nordic and 8.4 x 1012 becquerel (2006: 9.4 x 1012, 2005:1.3 x 1013 ). This represented slightly lower levels compared to 2006. These changes are due to slightly lower levels of power generation from nuclear sources from the precautionary and temporary deactivation of a number of power plant blocks.
E.ON’s use of process water in 2007 remained virtually the same compared to the previous year. However it is significantly higher than the figure for 2005. This is because 2006 was the first year for which we were able to report E.ON UK’s process water consumption. Another reason for the rise in process water is due to greater use of coal to generate electricity. Without E.ON UK, E.ON Group consumption rose five percent between 2005 and 2007. With the aid of flow rate figures, we were also able to improve the quality of data from U.S. Midwest.
We devote particular attention to carefully managing the radioactive waste from E.ON Energie and E.ON Nordic’s nuclear power stations. In 2007, we generated 3,632 tons of low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste and 281 tons of high-level radioactive waste. The main reason for this considerable increase in low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste in 2007 was the decommissioning of Central Europe’s Stade power plant. On top of that, low-level radioactive waste from E.ON Nordic was also disposed of after temporary storage.
Although the total amount of non-hazardous waste rose in 2007 to over 4,500 kilotons, 40 percent of this could be recycled. The large fluctuations in the amounts of hazardous waste recycled and disposed of are due to temporary storage periods. The disposal of hazardous waste is not always carried out in the same year but is instead dependent on recycling possibilities and the efficient use of logistics.
The recycling quota for ash and slag was increased from 60 to 80 percent in 2007 compared to the previous year.
Over 95 percent of gypsum was able to be recycled in 2007, a similar amount to the previous year.
Major Environmental Incidents
The success of our operational environmental protection effort is demonstrated by the extreme rarity of environmental incidents at our company. For the three-year period 2005-2007, the E.ON Group had only a single significant environmental incident that triggered our 24-hour reporting requirement. The incident involved dust emissions from a solid-waste combustion plant while it switched from waste-fired to oil-fired operation in 2005. As in previous years, there were no International Nuclear Event Scale incidents at E.ON facilities in 2007.
Environmental Protection Expenditures of E.ON Group
E.ON’s environmental protection expenditures are split up into different areas. One example is provisions for environmental protection measures and similar responsibilities of EUR488 million (also see 2007 annual report, p.177). E.ON spends more than EUR100 million on continuing environmental protection, in process-integrated environmental protection, in downstream environmental protection as well as in environmental management systems and employee training. Investments made for updating our plants and promoting renewables also represent a significant contribution to environmental protection.
The project volume of all the R&D activities planned for 2008 amount to EUR146 million. That represents an increase of 76 percent compared to 2007, and 156 percent against 2006.
The volume of research and development projects as well as small demonstration projects amounted to EUR83 million in 2007.
The volume of research and development projects as well as small demonstration projects amounted to EUR83 million in 2007.