Photo of the Union Jack Flag by Vaughn Leiberum (CC2.0)
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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom fell by 4% in 2015 due to dropping production and consumption of coal, according to U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). All told, coal consumption fell by 22% between 2014 and 2015 across the nation.
The U.K. is working to close all of its coal power plants in order to meet its goal of eliminating all carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector by 2025. Four coal plants were closed in the first quarter of 2016 alone, leaving six remaining coal plants in operation.
Among these Q1 2016 closures was Scotland’s last remaining coal power plant – the Longanett Power Station in Fife, north of Edinburgh had been in operation since 1968. At 3pm on March 24 this 2.4 Gigawatt (GW) power station was powered down for the last time, leaving Scotland coal-free for the first time in more than a century.
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