Reply to post: Re: Would definitely not willingly go back to gas.

Re: Would definitely not willingly go back to gas.

I don't think all electricity is from burned gas.

In the UK, a very large percentage of it is. Gas stations are quick and cheap to build and produce relatively cheap electricity with short start-up times - the main generators are basically jet engines, though the steam plant attached to the exhausts will take a little longer to get going. They release a lot less Carbon per MWh than coal- or oil-fired stations and as I write (1430 on Monday 16th September) they are currently supplying about 48% of the UK's energy needs.

Gridwatch has:

• Combined Cycle Gas Turbines at 48.3%, 17.32GW
• Nuclear at 18%, 6.44GW
• Wind at 11.49%, 4.12GW
• Solar (estimated) at 9.1%, 3.27GW
• Biomass at 5.05%, 1.81GW
• Coal at 2.04%, 0.73GW

and a few others such as hydro at 1% or less, oh, and just under 4½% coming in on the interconnect to France, so mostly nuclear.

Nuclear stays pretty much constant unless a plant is down for maintenance. Coal is only used occasionally in the summer and of course the amount available from wind and solar varies according to the weather.

M.