The coal-free run has lasted 8 days and 18 hours so far. In the latest milestone, it has gone for more than eight days without using coal to generate electricity – the longest such period since 1882. The coal-free run comes less than two years after the National Grid first ran without coal power for 24 hours. The rapid collapse of coal power in Britain has in part been predicated on the introduction of a “carbon price floor” in 2013, which slashed the fuel’s profitability. Although a significant share of coal-powered energy has been replaced by renewable sources such as solar and wind power, the largest power source in Britain remains natural gas, a carbon-emitting fossil fuel.

Source: The Guardian May 25, 2019 17:03 UTC