{"id":284762,"date":"2023-10-24T11:15:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T09:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=284762"},"modified":"2023-10-24T11:15:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T09:15:26","slug":"britain-will-need-gas-to-avoid-blackouts-for-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=284762","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Britain will need gas to avoid blackouts for decades\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The UK could experience its first large-scale blackout in decades this winter if gas shortages\u00a0combine with particularly cold weather.\u00a0A very cold winter with serious supply problems from Europe does raise the risk of power disruption significantly.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The man running Britain\u2019s gas network has said the country will need fossil fuels to prevent blackouts for decades to come despite calls for the Government to begin shutting off the pipes, reports \u00a0The Telegraph<\/a><\/em> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon Butterworth, chief executive of National Gas, said a growing reliance on intermittent power sources such as wind and solar meant Britain would be increasingly reliant on gas to make up for shortfalls when renewable energy sources are not generating power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Butterworth said: \u201cIn 2022, the wind didn\u2019t blow enough or at all for 262 days. And in those 262 days, we would have had rolling blackouts, or a full blackout across the UK if it wasn\u2019t for gas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes Britain will still need gas to keep the lights on as far out as 2040.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually think we\u2019ll be moving more gas but we\u2019ll be moving gas to power stations to make electricity rather than to homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His conviction comes despite calls for the Government to begin shutting down the gas network as part of the shift to net zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), headed by Sir John Armitt, last week called for the UK\u2019s domestic gas network to be decommissioned at a cost of \u00a370bn to encourage people to switch to heat pumps and help the country meet its net zero targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of decommissioning would most likely be added to consumer bills but the NIC argues the policy would help halve domestic energy costs by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government plans to replace the UK\u2019s 25 million domestic gas boilers with heat pumps to end our dependence on both gas and global gas prices. That dependence is why energy bills have doubled since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, heat pumps need electricity and in a country committing itself to generating most of its power from wind farms, there will be many low wind days when gas is still needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Butterworth foresees a time when millions of \u2018green\u2019 heat pumps will be whirring away \u2013 but using un-green power produced in gas-fired power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cThat is actually far less efficient than burning gas in your house. Domestic gas boilers are about 90pc efficient but the best power station is about 50pc efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Butterworth, whose career began as an apprentice fitter with British Gas, believes that breaking the UK\u2019s gas addiction will be tougher than many realise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worth\u00a0reading in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK could experience its first large-scale blackout in decades this winter if gas shortages\u00a0combine with particularly cold weather.\u00a0A very cold winter with serious supply problems from Europe does raise the risk of power disruption significantly. The man running Britain\u2019s gas network has said the country will need fossil fuels to prevent blackouts for decades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":284770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The UK could experience its first large-scale blackout in decades this winter if gas shortages\u00a0combine with particularly cold weather.\u00a0A very cold winter with serious supply problems from Europe does raise the risk of power disruption significantly.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818279,691818902,691818228,691823940,691819094],"class_list":{"0":"post-284762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-blackouts","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-fossil-fuels","11":"tag-jon-butterworth","12":"tag-renewable-green-energy","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/04_Family-sitting-by-the-candles-during-the-blackout.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1c4W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":225938,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=225938","url_meta":{"origin":284762,"position":0},"title":"National Grid warns Britons of blackouts on \u2018really cold\u2019 evenings","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/27\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If winter weather turns nasty, there could be severe energy shortages.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1276.png?fit=735%2C446&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1276.png?fit=735%2C446&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1276.png?fit=735%2C446&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1276.png?fit=735%2C446&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":224814,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=224814","url_meta":{"origin":284762,"position":1},"title":"Cold comfort: Leaked scripts reveal BBC response to potential blackouts this winter\u00a0","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/20\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Official UK policy, following the notorious 2008 Climate Change Act, of closing down power stations and gas storage in favour of part-time renewables to help \u2018save the climate\u2019 (aka \u2018net zero\u2019) has led to this state of affairs. 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