• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BREAKING: Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action March 20, 2023
Historic Deal Reopens B.C. Indigenous Territory to Fracking, Promises Land Restoration March 19, 2023
Repsol Abandons Plan to Ship Canadian LNG to Europe March 17, 2023
Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska March 14, 2023
U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse March 14, 2023
Next
Prev

UK Phaseout is ‘Stunning Turnaround’ for the Empire Built on Coal

September 24, 2017
Reading time: 3 minutes

ferdinandkozeluh0 / Pixabay

ferdinandkozeluh0 / Pixabay

 

The United Kingdom’s decision to phase out coal-fired generation by 2025 is a “stunning turnaround” for the country whose “rise as the dominant global power in the 18th and 19th centuries” was driven by the fuel it is now leaving behind, freelance author and journalist Fred Pearce writes for Yale Environment 360.

While many countries are abandoning coal, “it is the speed of King Coal’s demise in Britain—its first and most important stronghold—that is breathtaking,” Pearce writes, citing energy analyst Michael Grubb at University College London. “It shows what can be done, even in an essentially market-based energy system such as operates in the UK.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Pearce’s report focuses on the Drax Power Station in eastern England, a “coal-devouring behemoth” that produces one-tenth of the country’s electricity and stands as one of the world’s biggest coal plants. “When Drax opened for business in 1974, Britain got 80% of its electricity from burning coal. As recently as five years ago, the figure was 40%. But last year, it was 9%, and this summer coal supplied less than 2% of Britain’s electricity. On April 21, 2017, for the first time since its inception, the British power grid went 24 hours without coal.”

Between 2010 and 2016, meanwhile, carbon dioxide emissions from UK power generation fell 50%, so that “the average Briton is now responsible for only about a third the CO2 emissions of the average American,” he adds. Under the new regime, “Drax will live on, but only by burning biomass—mostly wood chips imported from the southern United States.”

Pearce traces the early history of coal-burning in England, when “steam engines liberated manufacturing industries like textiles from reliance on water wheels. They allowed factories to grow in size and to be built anywhere,” feeding the growth of the country’s early, great industrial cities like Manchester.

But “with coal came pollution,” he recalls. “London became known as the ‘big smoke’. In 1952, an estimated 10,000 people died in the capital during a ‘peasouper’ smog. Long before the world became seriously concerned about coal’s contribution to climate change, Europe was worried about acid rain caused by coal burning. British power stations were discovered to be killing fish a thousand miles away in the lakes of Norway.”

Now, with carbon taxes shaping the price comparisons between electricity sources, the UK National Grid buys nuclear and renewable electricity first, then natural gas. (Though it’s hard to see how new nuclear in the UK is justified by its reliably high price.) The big story, Pearce affirms, is the big, eight-megawatt turbines that have halved the cost of offshore wind in five years.

“One consequence of the collapse of coal has been to pull the plug on the development of technology to capture stack CO2 emissions from power plants and bury it out of harm’s way,” he adds. “Britain had big plans for a network of pipelines to bury CO2 from its coal plants in former North Sea gas and oil fields, but in 2015 the government cancelled funding. The technology could still be developed for some industrial emissions, but in Britain at least, clean coal is dead because King Coal is dying.”



in CCS & Negative Emissions, Clean Electricity Grid, Coal, Ending Emissions, Nuclear, UK & Europe, Wind

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

IFRC Intl. Federation:Twitter
International Agencies & Studies

BREAKING: Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action

March 20, 2023
37
Wikimedia Commons/Humans of Vanuatu
Ending Emissions

Six Countries Call for Fossil-Free Pacific

March 19, 2023
15
Environmental Defence Canada/flickr
Shale & Fracking

Repsol Abandons Plan to Ship Canadian LNG to Europe

March 18, 2023
279

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

@davenewworld_2

Keystone Pipeline Safety Worries Lawmakers after TC Energy Ordered to Reduce Operating Pressure

March 19, 2023
94
U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement/flickr

Willow Oil Project in Alaska Faces Legal Challenges, Economic Doubts

March 19, 2023
79
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
538
EcoFlight

Historic Deal Reopens B.C. Indigenous Territory to Fracking, Promises Land Restoration

March 19, 2023
335
IFRC Intl. Federation:Twitter

BREAKING: Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action

March 20, 2023
37
Environmental Defence Canada/flickr

Repsol Abandons Plan to Ship Canadian LNG to Europe

March 18, 2023
279

Recent Posts

Wikimedia Commons/Humans of Vanuatu

Six Countries Call for Fossil-Free Pacific

March 19, 2023
15
Wikipedia

Fossil Funding Makes Indigenous Resource Network a ‘Propaganda Machine’, Opponent Says

March 19, 2023
14
moerschy / Pixabay

Planetary Weight Study Shows Humans Taking Most of Earth’s Resources

March 19, 2023
10
U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
139
EcoAnalytics

Canadians Want Strong Emissions Cap Regulations, Not More Missed Targets

March 14, 2023
149
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board/flickr

$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’

March 14, 2023
281
Next Post
Matt H. Wade/Wikimedia Commons

White House Searches for ‘More Cohesive’ Energy and Climate Strategy

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}