The Guardian - Press Association Coal-generation hit historic low several times last week in what experts say are the only occasions since the first coal-fired generator opened in London in 1882
Record low in UK coal production can as warm weather helped lower demand. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The amount of electricity generated from coal in the UK has fallen to zero several times in the past week, grid data shows.
In what green energy supporters have described as a “historic turning
point” for the UK’s power system, coal-fired electricity first fell to
zero late on Monday night and for the early hours of Tuesday morning,
according to data from BM Reports.
On Thursday, there was no electricity from coal for more than 12 and a
half hours, more than half the day, with it making no contribution to
the UK’s power supplies late at night when demand was low and for a
period in the day, the data shows.
It is thought to be the first time the UK has been without
electricity from coal since the world’s first centralised public
coal-fired generator opened at Holborn Viaduct in London, in 1882,
according to the Carbon Brief website which reports on climate science and energy policy.
The record lows in coal power generation come as the UK enters the
summer months, which sees lower demand for electricity, and with more
than half of the country’s coal capacity out of action, for example for
planned maintenance.
But there have also been a series of recent closures of coal-fired
power plants as they become less economic, while plants such as Drax in
North Yorkshire have partially switched to burning “biomass”.
The government has said it wants to see coal phased out by 2025, as it is the most polluting way of generating electricity.
There has also been an increase in the amount of renewables on the
system, with a record 27% of the UK’s power coming from sources such as
wind power in the last quarter of 2015.Estimates of the power now being generated from solar panels, from
household arrays to large scale farms, also show it is regularly
outstripping coal during the day, reaching 6.8 gigawatts (GW) at a
midday peak this week compared to a high of 3GW output from coal.
Solar is limited to generating power during the day, but analysis
from Carbon Brief found that over the course of a week, the clean
technology produced more power last week than coal.
Juliet Davenport, chief executive of renewable electricity supplier Good Energy said: “This week marks an historic turning point for energy in the UK.
“Coal formed the backbone of the industrial revolution and was the
fuel that powered Britain into the 21st century. But it’s time to begin
to say farewell.
“Our energy is becoming cleaner and greener, with wind, solar and
other renewables generating more of our electricity than ever before. We
are celebrating this news as it shows that our future can be fossil
fuel-free.”
For John Church, a
leading authority on sea-level rise caused by global warming, there was
much that was fitting – and yet callous – about being sacked at sea.
The
veteran scientist was well into one of dozens of research voyages he
had taken since joining CSIRO as a post doctoral student in 1979.
His
vessel, the RV Investigator, was midway between Antarctica and New
Zealand and steaming north on the 170 degree longitude when he
received Thursday's call to tell him he was "potentially redundant".
(See map below.)
John Church speaks to the media about proposed cuts to the CSIRO. Photo: Penny Stephens
Sitting with a supporter in the ship's conference room, Dr Church was told his services were no longer needed.
"I
was OK during the call but it is certainly not a nice feeling to have
what you have worked for - for so many years - thrown on the scrapheap,"
the 64 year-old told Fairfax Media after finishing a 12-hour stint on
watch.
CSIRO's RV Investigator on one of its research voyages. Photo: Pete Harmsen
Accelerating sea-level rises
Dr Church's achievements
include developing sophisticated models linking sparse tidal gauge
information around the world with satellite data to reveal how much sea
levels are rising.
The current mission is retracing previous
journeys along the 170 W longitude line to measure precisely how key
parameters such as temperature, salinity and acidity are changing.
No thought bubble: Deploying weather balloons from RV Investigator. Photo: Stewart Wilde
As Dr Church notes, including in a Nature paper published last month, sea-level increases are accelerating as a warming planet melts glaciers and swells oceans.
From
increases of a few tenths of a millimetre annually in the 1000 years
before about 1850, the rate jumped 1.7 mm on average in the 20th
century. Since 1993, the rise has quickened to about 3 mm a year, he
says.
Despite this trend, CSIRO will slash about half the climate staff –
about 70 scientists - in its Oceans & Atmosphere division. New
hires will be made in climate adaptation and mitigation, the agency
promises but numbers cited so far are much smaller.
As with other
CSIRO staff, Dr Church will get a chance to save his job. The sole
scientist on board to be told of a pending redundancy, he was granted
until June 16 – or three weeks after the voyage ends in Wellington, New
Zealand – to argue his case.
Letter of support
Scientists
from leading research agencies, such as NASA of the US and
France's CNES, have called for Dr Church's group to be retained.
In a letter sent to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and
Science Minister Christopher Pyne obtained by Fairfax Media, the
scientists said the team was key for global efforts to collect and
analyse climate change processes.
"Breaking up the long-term
research program of this world-famous CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere unit
is a catastrophic short-sighted management decision," the letter said.
"In
addition to the detrimental effect on research and accuracy of
predictions for the Australian region, this decision will also impact on
the international collaboration programmes, built up progressively over
the last 20 years."
Fairfax Media sought comment from Minister Pyne, and the PM's office.
Kim,
Carr, Labor's shadow science minister, said "the actions of the CSIRO
will only see Australia's best and brightest leave our shores for other
countries who are in demand for their talent and expertise".
"Malcolm
Turnbull says he wants to create an ideas boom but all he is creating
is the largest brain drain in Australia's history."
Greens Senator
Peter Whish-Wilson said CSIRO executives had shown "monumental
disrespect" to Dr Church by effectively issuing him his redundancy
notice while at sea.
"John Church won the CSIRO Medal for Research
Achievement in 2006 and is the world leader in sea-level rise
research," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
"If CSIRO aren't holding
onto John, then they aren't serious about continuing to engage in
sea-level rise and I urge the board of CSIRO to stop this process
immediately."
A CSIRO spokesman said it would not comment on
discussions with staff: "All of the talks and negotiations at present
have the same goal of ensuring the excellent science and the
long-term future of CSIRO is maintained".
'Inconceivable to the world'
Rosemary
Morrow, one of the letter's authors, said CSIRO's undermining of its
oceans expertise "is just inconceivable to the rest of the world.
Especially for a country at the crossroads of so many evolving climate
modes - of droughts and driving rains."
Dr Morrow added a personal touch, saying Dr Church had been the ideal mentor when she studied in Hobart.
"John
was a great PhD supervisor - interested, curious, with a wide
oceanographic knowledge and a patient teacher," she said. "I was very
lucky to have him…it was a very motivating start to my professional
life."
Andy Pitman, head of the ARC Centre of Excellence for
Climate System Science based at the University of NSW, said Dr Church
was "the world's premier scientist" in sea-level research.
"Sacking John risks 30 years of accumulated science knowledge and the
capability of transferring that knowledge to the next generation of
scientists," Professor Pitman said.
"If you have a batsman
averaging over 100 in cricket it's a cause for national celebration. In
science, the accumulation of runs over time provides insight and
understanding that is irreplaceable," said Professor Pitman. "CSIRO has
just sacked its Bradman of sea-level science."
Outspoken
Dr
Church, who has been among the most outspoken scientists criticising
the current round of CSIRO job cuts, was told one reason for his firing
was the need to consolidate sea-level change into regional impacts.
"This
is essentially a repetition of [chief executive] Larry Marshall's
incomplete, naive and misleading statements, except for a focus on my
area of science," he said.
"Any reading of the literature or of
the most recent [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]
reports would clearly indicate that the overriding uncertainty in sea
level remains the amount and distribution of sea level rise," he said.
Also mentioned
was the cutback of external funds, including the Abbott government's
ending of the Australian Climate Change Science Program that had been
funded from 1990 until June this year.
Various clashes in recent
years with management "probably did not earn me any favours but I do not
know if I was targeted because I was prepared to think for myself and
to speak out," Dr Church said. "Personally, that is what I think the
taxpayer expects from their scientists."
Dr Church says he will take a short break after a stressful few months finishing research and confronting "the CSIRO disaster".
But he's unlikely to be marooned for long, with fellowships and other roles in the offing.
"Sea-level
rise is a long term issue," he says, noting that without emissions
reductions, the world is committed to seas rising several metres over
coming centuries.
"These will become critical issues without major
and urgent greenhouse gas mitigation for the many millions of people
living near the coast," he says.
Video
Major CO2 milestone reached Carbon dioxide continues to increase in the atmosphere with a major milestone of 400 parts per million of CO2 recorded in the Southern Hemisphere according CSIRO's Dr David Etheridge Links
Sitting with a supporter in the ship's conference room, Dr Church was told his services were no longer needed.
"I
was OK during the call but it is certainly not a nice feeling to have
what you have worked for - for so many years - thrown on the scrapheap,"
the 64 year-old told Fairfax Media after finishing a 12-hour stint on
watch.
