Renewable energy overtakes gas in the UK, analysis shows

Bit more info in this article.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uk/2024/03/28/wind-and-solar-power-drive-record-uk-year-for-renewable-energy-generation/

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Renewable energy sources generated more electricity than gas in the UK this winter, according to new analysis.

“With or without new licences, the North Sea will continue its inevitable decline so we’ll need to import ever greater quantities of gas from abroad unless we cut our demand by rolling out more renewables,” said Jess Ralston, the head of energy at ECIU.

“In this decisive decade for the climate, it is the beginning of the end of the fossil age,” Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, a senior electricity analyst at Ember, said at the time.

The stage is set for wind and solar to achieve a meteoric rise to the top.

Electricity is the highest emitting sector of carbon dioxide globally, making it a major focus for meeting climate targets.

“There are still some big hurdles to overcome, including the difficult global macroeconomic environment,” said Faith Birol, IEA’s executive director.

The original article contains 357 words, the summary contains 146 words. Saved 59%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

It's good news but the hype is nonsensical. Domestic energy generation has shifted a lot but the primary driver of lower emissions is exporting our manufacturing jobs. And now they're polishing their halos while wagging their fingers at China.

The decoupling of economic growth from carbon emissions: UK evidence . Figure 10 is the quick way to grasp the point.

The UK economy gradually shifted from a carbon-intensive manufacturing-based economy to a less carbon-intensive services economy after-1986. The gap between the consumption-based and territorial-based emissions started to widen. By 2007, the consumption-based CO2 emissions reached their peak and were 37% higher than the territorial CO2 emissions. This implies that the absolute decoupling of gross domestic product (GDP) from territorial CO2 emissions in 1986 was not solely because of policy impacts, but also because of the outsourcing of the production of manufactured goods to developing countries.