"in history"?... eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Obviously a great achievement though
Is anything about that statement false?
All of history up until the point where we invented generators that could use coal as a heat source was (obviously) a period without coal being used as energy in the UK (or anywhere, for that matter)
You could go with the more vague definition of "using" coal, like for personal heating or blacksmithing or whatever, but there's of course no chance that stopped during those 55 hours.
So yes, it's pretty much just wrong
I just realized.
I guess it depends what you mean by 'using' coal. If on an industrial scale then yeah the statement seems a bit odd. According to wikipedia Stone and Bronze Age flint axes were discovered embedded in coal, showing that it was mined in Britain before the Roman invasion.
Kind of silly, if they had specified "modern history" (which is what my brain automatically filled-in) it would have been correct.
We have used coal since the bronze age.
This is obviously what they meant, you are just being pedantic.
I wasn't the one originally being pedantic about it.
It's a completely true statement. Since the United Kingdom was formed, they've been burning coal. Remember, it's the name of the country, not the island itself.
Wrong. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (which is when the term "United Kingdom" was introduced into its name) was formed in 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800. The first coal-fired power station, the Holborn Viaduct power station began running in 1882.
That's a power station though. Coal was used for plenty of other machines without generating electricity. It was used in steam engines from the beginning of the 19th century.
While that is true, the article is clearly talking about using coal to generate electricity. If you're talking about coal usage in general then I can guarantee you that somewhere in the UK coal is still being burnt.
Why are we even arguing about the 'in history' bit? You're an idiot if you think its not referring to modern history.
Because semantics are fun
As a jokey comment it was fine, but it really derailed the thread lol
i wish i could see more headlines like this coming out of america :/
I've been filling the grid stats this week due to the amazing weather, it's really nice when you see solar supplying 20% of the grid. A few points I've seen coal supply less than 1% which is kinda silly. Should just import that small amount from France.
this keep happening.
Utility Companies Hate this One trick!
now if only the US could do it too
The U.K. was an early adopter of renewable energy and has more offshore wind turbines installed than any other country.
Wind Turbines are less cost effective and arguably just as bad for the environment, considering how many different species of birds are either extinct or endangered from wind farms alone, not to mention they're horribly unreliable. So go UK for having the worlds largest bird blender that sometimes takes them off of fossil fuel dependence when the weather is right?
I'm all about clean energy, but the idea that wind farms are eco-friendly is completely asinine.
You are terribly misinformed. Wind turbines have little impact on bird populations when placed appropriately. What bird species has become extinct solely due to wind turbines? Other things like house cats kill thousands of times more birds. Wind is also one of the cheapest forms of power generation, with a higher capacity factor than solar.
Wind farms are fine in rural areas.
maybe you should do some research before talking out of your ass
Contextualizing avian mortality
The study estimates that wind farms and nuclear power stations are responsible each for between 0.3 and 0.4 fatalities per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity while fossil-fueled power stations are responsible for about 5.2 fatalities per GWh.
Tbh it says "The UK" which could be interpreted as 1801-now, in which case this could be true.
See here:
Commercial power generation didn't even exist until 80 years after "The United Kingdom" came into existence.
They're going to have to find some non fatal source of energy to use if they want to phase coal out completely. Renewables don't make for a very stable grid.
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