04 February 2021
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Climate scientist James Hansen has warned UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his government s decision not to block plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria, in the North West of England, means the country risks humiliation as the host of COP26. Meanwhile, the UK s Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has published analysis showing that, although Britain remains dependent on fossil fuels, regions with both nuclear and wind power are already reaching the 2030 decarbonisation targets.
James Hansen at the 2015 climate talks in Paris (Image: World Nuclear Association)
Formerly a research at Nasa, Hansen s testimony before the US Senate helped raise wider awareness of global warming back in 1988. To his 3 February letter to Johnson, Hansen copied in the newly appointed US climate envoy, John Kerry, who told the BBC last week that the UN climate talks in Glasgow, in November, will be the last best chance the world has for tackling the climate crisis.
Bertand Aznar
Zero-carbon power outstripped fossil fuel in the UKâs electricity mix in 2020 for the first time since the industrial revolution. Back then, Thomas Edisonâs Holborn Viaduct coal plant â opened in 1882 and the worldâs first coal-fired power station â could light 1,000 lamps. Today, a single rotation of a wind turbine off Scotlandâs coast can power a home for a day.
The challenge of green power is that while we humans are creatures of routine â we get up, travel and cook at the same time, creating predictable peaks and troughs in demand â wind and sunshine can show up at unexpected times or not at all. This causes fluctuations in power that our engineers at National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) must smooth out by balancing supply and demand in real time.