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Britain goes one week without burning coal

5/17/2019

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The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
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http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“For the first time in nearly 150 years, Britain has gone an entire week without burning any coal. The record follows the recent news that in April, renewable electricity surpassed coal-produced electricity in the United States for the first time as well.

The last time Britain went a week without coal was in 1882, when the first coal-fired plant opened in London. Since then, coal has been burned nearly every day to produce electricity for the country. But on May 1, every coal-fired generator was shut down. None of them were restarted until this past Wednesday, marking an entire week without coal.

Instead of coal, the nation relied primarily on renewable energy along with standbys like oil, natural gas, and nuclear. Typically, coal is used to supply whatever power can’t be generated through these means, and because renewables like solar and wind can fluctuate, coal plants are often conscripted to meet goals.

On the flip side, though, when the sun is shining brightly and the wind is strong, the country can often get by with little or no coal at all. For instance, a period in 2017 saw so much renewable electricity generated that the price of electricity went negative for several hours.

As Britain builds more renewable electricity generators, coal usage has been dwindling, and this past week saw a substantial, although temporary, increase in renewable energy. Renewable electricity usually ticks upward at the beginning of spring when longer daylight hours combine with increased snowmelt running through dams.

Britain has pledged to reach zero coal production by 2025, with a completely carbon-free power grid by 2050. It’s an ambitious goal, but judging by last week’s results, it appears to be well on its way to succeeding.

The U.S., meanwhile, is much more dependent on coal than Britain, so it will be a long time before our coal production reaches zero.”
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a27425079/britain-week-without-coal/
 
“Coal-fired power stations still play a major part in the UK’s energy system as a backup during high demand, but the increasing use of renewable energy sources such as wind power means it is required less. High international coal prices have also made the fuel a less attractive source of energy.

The latest achievement — the first coal-free week since 1882, when the world’s first coal plant opened at Holborn in London — comes only two years after Britain’s first coal-free day since the Industrial Revolution.

Burning coal to generate electricity is thought to be incompatible with avoiding catastrophic climate change, and the UK government has committed to phasing out coal-fired power by 2025.”
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/britain-went-one-week-without-burning-coal-the-first-time-since-1882
 
“Burning coal to generate electricity is thought to be incompatible with avoiding catastrophic climate change, and the UK government has committed to phasing out coal-fired power by 2025.

Reductions in coal use in the UK have been responsible for halving electricity generation emissions since 2013, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), whose report last week called for the UK to pursue a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/08/britain-passes-1-week-without-coal-power-for-first-time-since-1882
 
“The news came as the Environment Agency's chairwoman Emma Howard Boyd warned that entire coastal communities might need help to move "out of harm's way in the longer term," as global temperatures rise by an expected 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100.

‘We can't win a war against water by building away climate change with infinitely high flood defenses,’ Boyd said in a statement, adding that £1 billion ($1.3 billion) a year needed to be invested in flood management to combat the emergency.

On May 2, the country's Committee on Climate Change (CCC) urged the government to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Currently the UK has a target of curbing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. Emissions fell by 42% in 2016.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/09/health/uk-coal-electricity-renewables-health-scli-intl/index.html
 
"As more and more renewables come onto our energy system, coal-free runs like this are going to increasingly seem like the new normal," a spokesperson for the UK National Grid told Bloomberg.

"We believe that by 2025 we will be able to fully operate Great Britain's electricity system with zero carbon."

By not burning any coal since last Wednesday 1 May [2019], power plants have helped the UK pass an early milestone of reaching over 1,000 coal-free hours this year, making it look likely that the nation will beat last year's feat of going for 1,800 hours without burning the fossil fuel for electricity.

It's a remarkable accomplishment, since it was only one year earlier than that, in 2017, when the UK succeeded for the first time in reaching 24 hours without burning coal.

Now, the UK is on track to make a whole week or even longer, and it's all thanks to how the nation's significantly shifted where its electricity comes from in recent times.

A decade ago, coal's contribution to the UK grid was around 40 percent – the primary source of energy. These days, it's dropped to well under 10 percent, a massive decrease, with an 88 percent reduction occurring between 2012 and 2018.
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-uk-is-in-the-midst-of-a-record-breaking-run-without-burning-coal-right-now
 
A past blog post was on 12/14/18 about the “London Killer Smog in 1952” .

*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!


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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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