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Earth Power United Kingdom

UK Enjoyed 'Greenest Year For Electricity Ever' in 2017 ( 72

The UK has achieved its greenest year ever in terms of how the nation's electricity is generated, National Grid figures reveal. From a report: The rise of renewable energy helped break 13 clean energy records in 2017. In June, for the first time, wind, nuclear and solar power generated more UK power than gas and coal combined. Britain has halved carbon emissions in the electricity sector since 2012 to provide the fourth cleanest power system in Europe and seventh worldwide. In April, the UK had its first 24-hour period without using any coal power since the Industrial Revolution. The government is committed to phasing out unabated coal by 2025 as part of efforts to cut the UK's greenhouse gas emissions in line with legal obligations. Separate findings from power research group MyGridGB show that renewable energy sources provided more power than coal for 90% of 2017, figures up to 12 December show.

UK Enjoyed 'Greenest Year For Electricity Ever' in 2017

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  • It's not really that hard. You just retrofit any existing coal plants for cogeneration to bridge the gap, and then replace all fossil fuel energy with a mix of renewables and energy storage (hydro, compressed air, battery, flywheel, even biofuel and hydrolysis for fuel cells).

    And you aim for 120 percent green energy, with opt-in microgrids that make you more resilient to climate change driven 100-year storms.

    The problem is that we set up all these tax exemptions, incentives, fleet subsidies, deductions, and

  • by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Thursday December 28, 2017 @03:19PM (#55823571) Journal
    And in the summary, as well. For example, we see:


    But in the article we find:


    So fossil fuels were used every day, and managed to have more output for just 23 of 365 days - 6%. At least they are bundling nuclear in with the "green" power sources...

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Good catch. biomass burning is certainly renewable, but its a carbon emitter, and good percentage of their renewable generation.

      • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Thursday December 28, 2017 @03:50PM (#55823735) Journal
        Biomass burning is a carbon emitter but it's pretty much all recently captured carbon, instead of fossil fuels which releases carbon that was locked up millions of years ago. Burning biomass can be considered carbon-neutral if you regrow whatever it is you burned,
      • I think that, as long as the biomass comes from new-growth forests, then one can consider it carbon-neutral.

        The real issue with biomass use in the UK is that much of it comes from North America and the transportation is a significant carbon emitter.

        • Not even that, but the biomass that is waste from logging, say, would release carbon into the atmosphere even if left on the ground as it decays. Better to get energy from it.

      • In some ways, you're correct. Biofuel is a net negative carbon emitter, if done properly (e.g. Brazilian crop waste, Forestry waste, things that would decompose or burn and emit various climate change gasses).

        The thing is, if done to replace the current waste, it does reduce emissions quite a bit, which is a good thing, provided the energy is captured and used for processes which need energy, as it then replaces those inputs.

        Cradle to grave, my friend. Everything is cradle to grave. For nuclear, for example

    • Do remember that nuclear is not considered a renewable. But since it doesn't emit CO2, it's considered "green" if you're not a rabid anti-nuke.

      So, "wind, nuclear, and solar power" can quite easily generate more power than gas and coal combined, while at the same time, "renewables overall, including wind, solar, biomass, and hydropower" only beat fossil fuels 23 days....

    • It is showing that renewable power generation is on the increase, i don't know why people expect it to be close to 100% overnight when it still a new and developing technology - some places still don;t even have fossil fuel power generation after a few hundreds years of it being around.
  • The G.B. National Grid Status [] provides an overview of where the electricity is coming from.

    • by Ash-Fox ( 726320 )

      Is this for Great Britain or the UK? I find this confusing as someone who lives in the UK but not in Great Britain.

Memory fault -- brain fried