One constant throughout the spread of the coronavirus and the lockdown measures that have been put in place, is the change in our energy demand over the past three months.
We recently wrote a piece showing that globally emissions are expected to fall by 8% as the general public seem more receptive to preventing climate change.
This changing energy demand has led to a reduction in one of the UKs energy staples in coal amongst other factors leading to the UK’s longest period of time without any reliance on coal for energy. The previous record had been for 18 days, 6 hours and 10 minutes which had been set in June, but a combination of reduced energy requirement through lockdown and the sunniest May on record have led to a new record being set – currently at 61 days without coal power.
It is now expected that as the country reopens on a wider scale as non-essential businesses have been given the green light to open again that the increasing energy demand will also put demand back on coal produced energy. It is, however, a hallmark achievement and shows the progress made in this space and the progress toward the UK government’s goal of closing all coal plants by 2024 as part of the approach to reach the 2050 goal of net zero.
Another factor to consider is something we had previously addressed – there are expert fears that changing habits due to social distancing could lead a short term spike in energy consumption as the country rebounds. If this is the case, some of the goals laid out may need to be revisited – if coal usage is to be replaced, there needs to be a strong renewed focus in ensuring a green recovery as businesses across the country are putting pressure to ensure the same as well as the changing public sentiment that this should also be a priority.
Utility Trade Group can help to identify clean energy solutions to help meet this goal, get in touch with us today to explore how you can help reach the net zero goal.
