As Helen (the city’s energy company) phases out coal on an accelerated schedule (HS 21.12.), it’s crucial to ensure this doesn’t lead to increased investment in burning wood or natural gas. If low-emission heat pump–based local heating can’t be developed quickly enough, then let’s build a waste heat pipeline from Neste’s Kilpilahti refinery in Porvoo to Helsinki — also on an accelerated timeline.
Using the refinery’s waste heat would reduce Helsinki’s emissions without significantly increasing those of the refinery. At the same time, it would provide a pathway to fossil-free district heating. Once the pipeline is in place, Neste, Porvoo, Sipoo, and Helsinki could jointly begin planning a nuclear power plant in Kilpilahti. In the future, this plant’s energy could be used to produce electricity, district heating, and hydrogen — for synthetic hydrocarbons and ammonia production. The carbon (dioxide) needed for hydrocarbons could be shipped by tanker to Kilpilahti from pulp mills along the coast.
Neste could also move away from using Russian oil as a raw material, thereby developing into a truly responsible and climate-friendly company. This would also improve the carbon balance of the pulp mills involved.
Juha A. Karhu
Helsinki
Opinion piece published in Helsingin Sanomat on January 19, 2022