In the era of climate change, there’s an increasing focus on how the UK should be powered to minimise the environmental impact. Historically, we’ve relied on coal and gas to generate electricity and decarbonisation. But how is this changing?
How does the UK generate electricity?
Most of the UK’s electricity is still produced by burning fossils fuels – primarily natural gas. Another notable proportion of electricity is nuclear-generated. Gradually, the UK’s nuclear power stations are being decommissioned. There’s only one expected to remain by 2035. Renewable energy sources remain the focus of growth. This involves harnessing wind, wave, hydro, biomass and solar power to generate electricity.
What about imports?
The UK electricity network is connected to France, the Netherlands and Ireland through interconnectors. This allows electricity to be imported and exported. In 2017, the UK imports of energy were almost twice as large as its exports. This dependence is looking set to increase in the future. However, electricity from the latest interconnector with Norway is 100% zero-carbon, helping the UK achieve the country’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
What’s the future of coal?
In the last quarter of 2019, just 0.69% of the UK’s electricity was generated by coal. In May 2019, the National Grid reported that the UK went for a fortnight without burning coal to generate electricity.
Where does Energy from Waste come in?
Energy from Waste is part of the solution to the energy crisis. It diverts waste away from landfill to incinerators that generate green electricity. As of last year, there are only 47 EfW plants in the UK, with 15 under construction. There’s been concern about whether EfW will deter people from recycling. But at Rabbit, we remove as many recyclables as we can from our skips before incinerating what remains to produce clean energy.
How does Rabbit’s Energy from Waste plant work?
We launched our Energy from Waste plant in 2010. It won a Green Business Award at the Worthing Business Awards and featured in the Sunday Times. It’s capable of converting an average skip’s worth of rubbish into enough energy to power a house for three weeks. So, when you hire a skip from Rabbit, the contents will be sorted for recycling and then incinerated to generate green electricity.
To find out more about skip hire in West Sussex and our Energy from Waste Facility, contact Rabbit. Reach us on 01903 762020 or email info@rabbitgroup.co.uk.
