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Britain Goes a Week Without Coal Power for the First Time in 137 Years

posted by martyb on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the smug-in-a-smog-free-world dept.

SemperOSS writes:

BBC:

Britain has gone a week without burning any coal to make electricity - the first coal-free week since [...] the Industrial Revolution. [...] The world's first coal-fired power station was opened in London in 1882.

According to data, no coal has been used by power stations in Britain since around 1pm on 1 May. Instead, other sources of power have taken over, such as wind turbines, gas and nuclear power.

"We believe that, by 2025, we will be able to fully operate Great Britain's electricity system with zero carbon," said a spokesperson for the National Grid.

Time for British Prime Minister Theresa May to celebrate with more flights to Brussels?

Also at: Financial Times (Paywalled), Bloomberg, Ars Technica, and Fox News.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Snospar on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:37PM (4 children)

    by Snospar (5366) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:37PM (#841438)

    Well, according to https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ [templar.co.uk] they've fired up the Coal again, currently supplying over 1% of UK demand.

    Still, 1 week out of 7124 is quite an achievement.

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Alfred on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:13PM (3 children)

    by Alfred (4006) on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:13PM (#841488) Journal
    Well...you could do it any week... if you are cool with rolling blackouts.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @08:55PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @08:55PM (#841545)

      if you are cool with rolling blackouts.

      Hey, rolling blackouts are only cool in the winter. In the summer they're downright sweltering!

      • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Friday May 10 2019, @08:02AM

        by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 10 2019, @08:02AM (#841753)

        [quote]Hey, rolling blackouts are only cool in the winter. In the summer they're downright sweltering![/quote]
        Not in Britain: they're still just moderately damp.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 09 2019, @09:40PM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday May 09 2019, @09:40PM (#841558) Homepage Journal

      No thanks Nicolás!!