After almost a century since the last time this happened, the UK kept its coal-fired plants non-operational for a whole week, managing to power everything in the country during this short period without burning any of the black rock pollutant. Instead, they relied on natural gas, nuclear, wind energy, biomass, solar energy, and hydro power stations. As a spokesperson of the government pointed out, this wasn’t a stunt to celebrate a “green week” or anything, but the first step in the phasing out of coal plants.
This is really happening, as other, zero-carbon energy sources are receiving more investment and thus higher output, gradually rendering coal plants obsolete in the UK. The official promise is that by 2025, coal will be a thing of the past, and on the road towards this year we will see more and more clean weeks like the one that happened between May 1 and May 8, 2019. Of course, for the accumulation of the pollutants to subside it will take a couple of more years following 2025.
So, will this decarbonization be enough to tackle global warming problems? Obviously, environmental trouble is something that concerns all countries in the world, and everyone must do their own contribution in the effort to help turn the tables. Some say that 2025 is already too far and into the realms of “non-reversible” damage. Moreover, the case with some of the alternative energy sources and what their footprint in the environment is, is still in the shade of a big question mark.
