The UK Just Went One Week Without Coal Power For The First Time Since The 19th Century

By Mayukh Saha / Truth Theory

Britain has passed an entire week without making use coal as a source of energy – a first if we count the years since Queen Victoria. This news comes as an affirmation to the proposal to phase out most, if not all, of Britain’s fossil fuel uses.

The last generator was turned off at 1:24 pm on 1st May, which means by this time, they have officially completed an entire week, simply resting on renewable sources of energy. This news is brought to us by the National Grid Electricity System Operator, which spearheads the network in England, Wales and Scotland.

This proposal to phase it out comes out of a long debate bringing in points like the high prices of these fossil fuels, the pollution caused by them, and the efficiency of other renewable sources to trump these. Although coal is still being produced for emergencies, the government has decided to end it by 2025. And this is the first step towards it.

This comes as another major development after the first coal free day that was celebrated two years back since the time of the Industrial revolution. The deciding factor in the new plan is due to the climate change that has taken the world in its grasp. Finally, governments are trying to do anything in their ability to tackle it.

The reduction in coal use has already seen some positive effects in England. Emissions due to electricity has been halved, and the plan to reach zero carbon emissions by the year 2050 is looking fruitful. A long way to go, but steps are definitely being taken.

Fintan Slye, the head of National Grid ESO, has proclaimed that this would herald a new change in the way we look at energy and power sources. He believes that zero carbon emission would lead to an increase in large scale, off-shore wind and hydro power, while also domesticating solar panels for household use. There would be newer technology that would be able to digitise and manage these energies efficiently in real time.

While some, like Greg Clark, who is work as the business secretary, has celebrated this achievement and had declared that UK would be the first significant economy to actually do this, there have been criticisms. The CCC’s CEO Chris Stark has mentioned that several proposals include putting a higher VAT on solar energy while failing to support wind and solar power would lead to this target getting more and more difficult to achieve.

He believes that people need to work with every renewable source to meet the target.

It’s going to be hard, no doubt. But we believe that if we plan it just right, everything can fall in place. Impossible is nothing, when we are doing things for our planet. Let make this happen.

IMAGE CREDIT: kodda