Blog
Analysis, opinion and data on British electricity and the transition to clean power, by Dr Andrew Crossland and guests.
Decoupling reducing energy bills by £3bn
Since September 2022, I have been campaigning to stop gas controlling the price of all of our electricity bills. Retrospective analysis shows that thi...
Read more →Three Energy Predictions for the UK in 2023
GUEST BLOG BY LOGAN BLACK https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangblack/ In 2022, there were many significant developments in the UK energy sector. These in...
Read more →Electric Car Myths Debunked
Guest Blog: Emma Rix, Creative Bloom Rocks As with a lot of things in life, the electric car industry has a few myths floating around. From how green...
Read more →What s Green and Invisible? Natural Gas (apparently)
A commentary on the relabelling of natural gas a green. GUEST BLOG BY LOGAN BLACK https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangblack/ The Invisible Man Why are p...
Read more →CfD AR4 What Does this mean
GUEST BLOG BY LOGAN BLACK https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangblack/ The results of Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round (AR) 4 were announced...
Read more →New UK Energy Strategy
GUEST BLOG BY LOGAN BLACK https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangblack/ Number 10 and BEIS are making rumbling noises about launching a new UK energy strat...
Read more →The Policy Failures that Caused the 2022 Energy Price Crisis
The 2022 energy price crisis is leaving thousands of British homes with a stark choice: heating or eating. It s wrong, unfair and, for reasons outline...
Read more →Guest Blog: Oakwood pt 2
My mission I have always had a passion to live as environmentally sustainable as possible without being a full-on tree hugger. So, buying a thermally...
Read more →Opinion piece UK Coal
The closure of Wales last coal plant now halves to 4 (in a single year) the number of remaining UK coal power stations being kept on standby as a pric...
Read more →Oakwood Energy efficiency Project
In this blog, Alan Chapman talks us through an energy project on his home. His LinkedIn profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-chapman-7314...
Read more →Are Britain’s coal free days a completely good thing?
In 2017, Britain’s reduction in coal use was commended around the world. Over the year, just 6.3% of UK electricity was produced from its coal power s...
Read more →Record breaking renewables: 30th April 2017
Sunday 30th April 2017 is seeing record amounts of low carbon generation in Great Britain. At 1030 am, 74% of electricity supplied was from low carbon...
Read more →Guest Blog: Are there advantages of UK onshore natural gas? Part 2
This is a guest post by Nick Grealy. Nick Grealy has been the natural gas industry for 24 years and found the first 16 really, really, boring. He sees...
Read more →A day without coal
By Dr Andrew Crossland and Dr Grant Wilson 21st April 2017 looks like the first day ever with no coal generation in the UK. Here are some fast facts t...
Read more →Guest Blog: Are there advantages of UK onshore natural gas? Part 1
This is a guest post by Nick Grealy. Nick Grealy has been the natural gas industry for 24 years and found the first 16 really, really, boring. He sees...
Read more →A record breaking week
It has been a pretty amazing week for British electricity. At lunchtime on Sunday 9 th April, a record 8GW of solar power was powering British homes....
Read more →Where do British imports come from?
In this blog, I assess how we import electricity to Great Britain and evaluate whether this is a low carbon thing to do. I conclude that to reduce car...
Read more →A brief history of British Electricity Generation
British electricity generation and carbon emissions since 1970. British electricity supply is constantly evolving as the availability of new technolog...
Read more →Britain s existing nuclear power stations
In this articles I focus on nuclear power something which rarely features in my blogs, but which is a big component of the MyGridGB manifesto. Nuclear...
Read more →A windy lesson
British news is dominated by the devastation caused Storm Doris over the past 24 hours. No doubt somewhere in the papers will be photos of a wind turb...
Read more →Rising carbon emissions
January 2017 saw a rise in carbon emissions from the same period in 2016. The total amount of carbon rose by 17%. Adjusted for the higher demand in 20...
Read more →Guest Blog: Opportunities for teaching sustainable energy in post-compulsory education.
The following is a guest blog by Pamela Dugdale, a MyGridGB follower on Twitter. Followers are encouraged to submit guest blogs using mygridapp@gmail....
Read more →The MyGridGB manifesto explained
The MyGridGB Manifesto proposes one way that Britain can meet its present electricity demands using low carbon electricity. I first proposed it in Jul...
Read more →Guest Blog: Teaching energy
The following is a guest blog by Pamela Dugdale, a MyGridGB follower on Twitter. Followers are encouraged to submit guest blogs using mygridapp@gmail....
Read more →January 2016 vs January 2017: Has our electricity mix actually changed?
January 2017 represents the first chance to provide year on year comparison of electricity generation. When preparing the data for this blog, I didn t...
Read more →What can Tidal Power Contribute?
The UK is committed to carbon reduction in all sectors of the economy be that electricity, heating, transport, agriculture or industry. The £1.3bn, 32...
Read more →Are imports really low-carbon?
Earlier this month, I reported how Britain has recently become a net exporter of electricity to France and has increased imports from Holland. Since w...
Read more →Has electricity become the primary consumer of gas?
My prediction is that in 2016 gas for electricity will have outstripped domestic consumption. That has only happened 4 times in the last 20 years. Bri...
Read more →Peak demand doesn t cause peak carbon emissions
In this blog, I look how demand fluctuates on a daily and weekly basis and the impact that that has on our carbon emissions. A simple conclusion can b...
Read more →For 3 months, Britain was a net exporter of electricity to France
Britain became a net exporter of electricity to France in the last three months of 2016. Find out more in this blog. On the MyGridGB live dashboard ,...
Read more →What is replacing coal?
Coal generation has dropped from providing 30% of our electricity at the beginning of 2015, to providing less than 7% in the last 6 months of 2016. Fu...
Read more →Returning to work part 1
Demand falls over Christmas and New Year as many of us are on leave but it quickly returns when we go back to work. In the chart below, I show our ele...
Read more →2016 in Review
2016 was a momentous year for our electricity supply: the signing and ratification of the Paris climate agreement, the announced closure of all coal p...
Read more →The carbon value of energy efficiency
Electricity is changing in the way it is being generated and also in how it is being used. At the end of 2015, I switched my house from incandescent/h...
Read more →The return to gas
Christmas Day 2016 created headlines due to high amounts of low carbon generation and low demand. Since then, the use of fossil fuels increased as Bri...
Read more →Where did electricity come from on Christmas Day?
In this blog, I focus on where our electricity came from across the whole of Christmas Day On Christmas Day, this piece looked at how National Grid us...
Read more →Cooking turkeys with record amounts of wind
On Christmas, the normal rules of providing electricity are a little different. Every day there is a peak demand for electricity which is met by switc...
Read more →A new clean energy milestone?
It was reported in the Guardian newspaper that the UK hit a clean energy milestone after low carbon power accounted for 50% of electricity generation...
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