The Country That Survived A Whole Day Without Coal Energy
Since the industrial revolution, the main source of power in Britain was the coal energy. However, this year, 135 years after the start of the first coal power plant, the situation had changed.
On the 21st of April, 2017 the United Kingdom powered a whole day without the coal energy at all. For the first time in this period of time, no coal energy was used. The biggest part of the energy consumed that day was by the natural gas power stations; quarter by the nuclear power plants, the number of which is decreasing every year too. And the other part was the so-called alternative sources such as the wind power and the biomass.
A Positive Step for the British Ecology
That was only the collision of the factors that allowed this achievement to happen. Yet, this shows the great work that the British Government is doing to decrease the percentage of coal energy in the UK general energy production. The official data show that in 2016 the amount of energy generated by wind was higher than the amount of energy generated by coal.
It is also a sign that the alternative energy sources are getting more and more attention, which might lead to the decreasing of the prices for the wind and solar stations. It also implies that, since the power plants are closing, the UK’s diversion of the energy sources is getting bigger and bigger with every year, which is good for both environment and the economy. Perhaps, the UK will be the country that will make use of these solar inventions?
Environmental Organizations Reaction
The biggest environmental organizations have already commented the event as the milestone to the independence from the coal energy. This is also considered to be a new step towards the growth of the alternative types of energy, which is a great sign for the ecology. It is a well-known fact that the coal power plants were the biggest pollution makers out of all types of the power plants and now there is a chance that solar energy will dominate as an alternative energy source in the nearest future.
The Vector of Development
The United Kingdom WWF scientist said that it is important for the next UK Government to keep up the pace, and work on this problem even more because the future is behind the alternative types of energy, that are not causing the environmental problems like the coal energy.
Mr. Redmond-King also mentions that the new politicians have to work on the problem like decarbonizing the buildings and transport – a trend that was set by the European scientists and has been approved all around the European Union. According to the scientists, Britain is far behind the other countries of EU since they have not yet done anything to fix this problem.
This Is Not the End
However, it is important to remember that this 24-hour event was just a collision of the factors that helped the UK ‘survive’ without the coal energy. Therefore, it is important to remember that for now, it would be hard for Britain to hold on without the coal. Which means that the alternative sources of energy have to be given a bigger budget and that the priority should be given to those in the future.
More news about alternative energy sources: Tesla Motors is making steps towards becoming the first foreign car company in China.