Israel and coal

Coal Consumption
Countries in the Middle East consumed 0.4 quadrillion Btu of coal in 2007. Israel accounted for 85 percent of the total and Iran most of the remainder. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that the region's coal use will remain near the current level through 2035.

Coal Reserves
According to the EIA, Israel has no coal reserves.

Scrubbers
On December 26, 2010, Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan signed personal orders for the CEO of the Israel Electric Corporation to install scrubbers in coal-fired power stations. By 2016, all of the country’s coal-fired power plants will have to have the filtering technology. Two in Hadera and Ashkelon will receive filters, while an older plant in Haifa will be shut down. A second planned coal-fired power plant in Ashkelon, known as Project D, was recently converted to a natural gas powered generator with a coal backup.

Such measures are expected to reduce air pollution by 5 percentage points to 40%, and are expected to generate $2 billion in savings as fewer medical treatments and procedures are needed. The work is being spaced out over the next five years to prevent power outages. The personal orders were signed after a lengthy negotiation process that included all of the relevant governmental and NGO players, as well as a public hearing, the ministry said. The orders were crafted in line with the newest European directive and have been designed to bring Israel in line with global trends.

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 * Global use and production of coal