Fifth Update of August 2019 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Tuesday – 27th August

• Article covers UK Government Science and Technology Select Committee report suggesting sales of electric vehicles are behind plans due to cost and lack of charging points. Report says that market will take off when second-hand market develops as only a minority of people in UK buy new cars.

• Morning Star (“For Peace and Socialism”) article claims UK should use its domestic supply of coal rather than importing it to make steel and cement as well as to generate electricity. Importing 3/4 of our 12 million tonnes annual coal supply “defies common sense”.

Thursday – 29th August

• Mirror reports that smart meters are reducing energy bills by more than a hundred pounds per year for the average household through changing habits. Teething problems with smart meter roll-out also reported.

• Orkney islands’ people continue to find ways to make use of hydrogen generated from excess or ‘waste’ wind. This time hydrogen will power a distillery producing gin.

• BBC interview with UK Government’s Chief Environment Scientist as he leaves his post after seven years: People must travel less, eat less red meat and buy fewer clothes to achieve emissions targets. Professor Sir Ian Boyd suggests government is not set up to deliver these changes.

Friday – 30th August

• Coal contributed less than 1% of 2nd Quarter electricity generation in UK: a new record.

• A group of businesses in NW England are proposing construction of small modular nuclear reactors in the area to generate electricity.

• Electricity generation from renewable sources has overtaken generation from coal in 36 OECD countries in 2018.

• Ukraine is joining the queue for US Liquid Natural Gas supplies to reduce dependence on Russian supplies.