\u201cToday\u2019s closure at Ratcliffe marks the end of an era and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country,\u201d Michael Shanks, the minister for energy, said.<\/p>\n
When Ratcliffe began operating in 1967 nearly 400,000 people were employed in the coal industry.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
Ratcliffe\u2019s was one of the UK\u2019s largest coal plants capable of generating 2 gigawatts of electricity \u2013 enough power for all the homes in the East Midlands.<\/p>\n
Its closure was on the cards since 2015 when the government announced the phase-out of coal for electricity \u2013 the most polluting source of power \u2013 by 2025.<\/p>\n
But that makes it no less hard for those who\u2019ve devoted their careers working there to keep the lights on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an emotional day for me as well as for the team,\u201d Peter O\u2019Grady, Ratcliffe\u2019s plant manager, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started my career 36 years ago, none of us imagined a future without coal generation in our lifetimes.<\/p>\n
While the science of climate change was established by then, it wasn\u2019t until the early 2000s that policies were introduced to actively phase out coal.<\/p>\n
Colossal carbon footprint<\/strong><\/p>\nRatcliffe was the first and only coal-fired power plant to be later equipped with advanced \u201cscrubbing\u201d technology to remove nitrogen oxide and sulphur pollutants billowing from its chimneys.<\/p>\n
But there was no affordable solution to the planet-warming carbon dioxide it and other coal plants produced.<\/p>\n
Since the furnace of the world\u2019s first coal-fired power plant was lit in Victorian London, the UK has burned an estimated 4.6bn tonnes of coal for electricity and pumped about 10.4bn tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
That is more CO2 than most countries have ever produced from all sources, not just coal electricity, according to analysis by Carbon Brief.<\/p>\n
Advance to cleaner power<\/strong><\/p>\nThe UK\u2019s rapid adoption of coal accounts for its colossal carbon footprint, but its transition to cleaner power has been even faster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the final chapter of a remarkably swift transition from the country that started the Industrial Revolution,\u201d Phil MacDonald, managing director of energy think tank Ember, said.<\/p>\n
In 2012, coal still supplied nearly 40% of our electricity.<\/p>\n
New policies and financial incentives for cleaner energy sources accelerated coal\u2019s decline. Its share of generation dropped to 7% by 2017 and about 2% since 2020.<\/p>\n
Yet despite an urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions worldwide, global demand for coal is still rising, particularly in Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not enough to not build new coal plants, we have to find ways to push existing coal plants into early retirement,\u201d Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said.<\/p>\n
But a rapid transition away from fossil fuels isn\u2019t just about moving away from coal, which, according to the IEA still provides income for 50 million people worldwide.<\/p>\n
It involves affordable and secure alternatives and replacing coal\u2019s role in heavy industry much of which has now left the UK.<\/p>\n
Other countries may look to the UK for lessons in ending a love affair with coal \u2013 but our planned transition to entirely zero-carbon electricity will be watched even more closely.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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