So the UK hasn’t switched from coal to renewables, but instead, has just switched off its coal plants in response to less electricity needed. So why is the UK using so much less electricity? It’s because the UK isn’t producing very much any more. Factories have closed down, as manufacturing has moved overseas and the UK has more of a service economy.
So has the UK actually reduced the use of coal, or just outsourced the coal burning to other countries? That would depend on whether the countries now doing the manufacturing are burning coal and other fossil fuels.
I remember as a kid in the early 1990s some of the houses on my street would get coal deliveries which makes me feel completely ancient
Wow, really can’t wait for reform to get in and start burning coal again…. /s
That is beautiful. I hope Germany (where I live) will follow.
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Unclear – are we still buying electricity from abroad, which is generated using coal? Or is this graph just about UK domestic electricity production?
Data from[ Gridwatch](https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/download.php)
R package ggplot2 code [is here if you want to remix it](https://gist.github.com/cavedave/a5bc2d064a6273dffca6da7335a73ab1). Ask me for the data as its big and i dont want to over stretch gridwatch.
I made this graph before [https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/btmbxm/uk_electricity_from_coal_oc/](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/btmbxm/uk_electricity_from_coal_oc/) but I thought it was worth seeing the update.
After I made that graph (copying a tweet) I found the original graph was from this article [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/may/25/the-power-switch-tracking-britains-record-coal-free-run](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/may/25/the-power-switch-tracking-britains-record-coal-free-run)
Like this a lot, took me a second to get it but it’s neat once you do. The drop from 2015 to 2018 was so abrupt
If only we could switch off gas so rapidly.
This is interesting, but doesn’t answer the question of what is replacing this energy.
People are claiming it is due to increased use of renewables, but it isn’t. It’s because the UK is simply using substantially less electricity now than it did in 2012. See the following graph: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/36ED/production/_131316041_uk_energy_use-nc.png.webp
So the UK hasn’t switched from coal to renewables, but instead, has just switched off its coal plants in response to less electricity needed. So why is the UK using so much less electricity? It’s because the UK isn’t producing very much any more. Factories have closed down, as manufacturing has moved overseas and the UK has more of a service economy.
So has the UK actually reduced the use of coal, or just outsourced the coal burning to other countries? That would depend on whether the countries now doing the manufacturing are burning coal and other fossil fuels.
I remember as a kid in the early 1990s some of the houses on my street would get coal deliveries which makes me feel completely ancient
Wow, really can’t wait for reform to get in and start burning coal again…. /s
That is beautiful. I hope Germany (where I live) will follow.
[Looks like we’re at least going in the right direction](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-energy-consumption-and-power-mix-charts). But lignite use is only slowly going down.
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