Fourth Update of March 2020 – 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)

Monday – 23rd March

• BBC describes results of a multi-national study which shows that electric cars produce less emissions than those using diesel and petrol over the life of the vehicle except in places where coal dominates electricity generation such as present-day Poland.

Thursday – 26th March

• UK Government documents show 2019 greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 3.6% compared with the previous year and 45% compared with 1990. Energy supply sector is the biggest contributor to the change due to coal power being replaced with gas and renewable power generation. Total power generation also continues to drop.

Saturday – 28th March

• A US article suggests a way to achieve net-zero emissions is by making ‘natural’ gas (methane) using over-capacity from ever-growing renewable energy with carbon capture and storage. The piece introduces the ‘duck curve’ showing average daily fluctuations in delivered load and demand leading to steadily increasing ‘waste’ or excess wind.

Sunday – 29th March

• UK electricity demand dropped 10% overall during the previous week as industry and businesses ‘locked down’.