Just a reminder that Grid energy is not the same as total energy. It's only an important first step in decarbonizing and economy. This is the UK's total energy mix.
this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Where is all that non-grid fuel being used? I assume people aren't using coal to fuel their vehicles.
Coal used in making steel, natural gas to heat homes and run hobs, oil to power cars, lorries, ships and portable generators used in construction etc....
There may be some obscure Dickens themed museums who may still be using coal for home heating. Rural homes that time forgot perhaps? That one weirdo tinkerer building a steampunk coal fired boiler powered steam car?
Many canal boats use coal stoves for heating. We got through quite a few of bags of coal each winter back when that was my life.
Cars, heating(homes and industry), steel production and so much more.
All the neighbors of France rely on its nuclear capabilities to keep the light on when wind/sun is low. Renewables are finally at a point where they are competitive but we really need some intermittence absorbing capabilities. Batteries or dams.
The connectors with France only total 4GW. That's about 10-15% of our demand. It's s no more than a top up when it makes financial sense .
Today we were about neutral on import/export. We imported 2.5ish from France but exported just as much to The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and Denmark.
TIL, I thought it was more
Batteries. Dams do more damage than good. But there's been some exciting developments in harvesting energy from waves.
Is that for real, or are there some tricks, like buying energy from somewhere and not aggregating in the data?
It's real and not that uncommon. Windy weather, especially with sun, is very good for the UK from this perspective. It will get even better over the next 12-24 months as a number of wind farms come online.