UK Electricity Reached a Record 58% From Low-Carbon Sources in 2024

[Think. Again.]

By: Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
Published: January 2, 2025
Edited by Chris McDermott
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/uk-electricity-clean-sources-2024.html

Solar panels are installed on the roof of York Minster cathedral in York, England on Oct. 31, 2024. Ian Forsyth / Getty Images

Electricity in the United Kingdom was the cleanest ever in 2024, with solar and wind generating all-time highs, a new analysis by Carbon Brief said. ( https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks-electricity-was-cleanest-ever-in-2024/ )

The report found that per unit carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by over two-thirds in a decade. The analysis attributed this to the phasing out of coal in the UK, which now generates less than half the amount of electricity from fossil fuels than it did a decade ago. Meanwhile, the generation of power from renewable sources has more than doubled.

-snip-

“Under the government’s target for clean power by 2030, the carbon intensity of electricity generation should fall by another two-thirds by the end of the decade, according to NESO,” the report said. “In its advice on how to reach the target, NESO set out pathways to clean power by 2030 that would see carbon intensity falling to 50gCO2/kWh or lower, depending on how it is measured. This will be a very significant challenge. Nevertheless, the power sector has already been transformed over the past decade. It was the UK’s largest source of CO2 until 2014 and is now only the fifth largest, after transport, buildings, industry and agriculture.”

The target of creating an electricity grid that is 95 percent low-carbon by 2030 is possible, according to the UK Energy Research Centre, but there is “very little room for error,” reported The Guardian.

Full article with citation links: https://www.ecowatch.com/uk-electricity-clean-sources-2024.html

[at140]

1. while China and India with 38% of world's population

are still building new coal fired power plants.

[Think. Again.]

3. Yes, and the U.S. lagging far behind all of them in building out non-CO2 energy generation.

[Unladen Swallow]

4. And in numbers that are difficult to even comprehend

Germany too.

[Think. Again.]

5. Germany is interesting...

"Renewable energy in Germany is mainly based on wind and biomass, plus solar and hydro. Germany had the world's largest photovoltaic installed capacity until 2014, and as of 2023 it has over 82 GW. It is also the world's third country by installed total wind power capacity, 64 GW in 2021 (59 GW in 2018) and second for offshore wind, with over 7 GW. Germany has been called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".

The share of renewable energy in electricity production has increased from 3.5% in 1990 to 52.4% in 2023. As with most countries, the transition to renewable energy in the transport and heating and cooling sectors has been considerably slower."

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany