[Technology] UK's last coal fired power station closes...

nicko31 · Sep 30, 2024

UK becomes first major industrialised economy to ditch coal from electricity grid.

UK to close last coal power station after 142 years

The UK's last coal power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, is due to end operations on Monday.

www.bbc.co.uk

Same day last blast furnaces goes too.

Port Talbot: steel town braces for shutdown of its last blast furnace

Closure to make way for greener electric arc furnace deals heavy blow to local people and ends ability to make ‘virgin steel’

theguardian.com

The transition is well underway and is gathering pace

junior · Sep 30, 2024

What a shame. We still burn coal at home on the open fires and in the Aga, and it's getting more and more expensive and difficult to get hold of.

The end of an era.

I've got a frew friends with traction engines, and a strong interest in the heritage rail sector, and the difficulty in getting quality coal is becoming a real concern.

Mustafa II · Sep 30, 2024

junior said:
What a shame. We still burn coal at home on the open fires and in the Aga, and it's getting more and more expensive and difficult to get hold of.

The end of an era.

I've got a frew friends with traction engines, and a strong interest in the heritage rail sector, and the difficulty in getting quality coal is becoming a real concern.

Hopefully soon it'll be near impossible to get hold of. These things need to stay in the past while the climate is in crisis.

Titanic · Sep 30, 2024

Is it a good thing that we don't make steel anymore?

nicko31 · Sep 30, 2024

junior said:
What a shame. We still burn coal at home on the open fires and in the Aga, and it's getting more and more expensive and difficult to get hold of.

The end of an era.

I've got a frew friends with traction engines, and a strong interest in the heritage rail sector, and the difficulty in getting quality coal is becoming a real concern.

Isn't Didsbury in an SCA (smoked controlled area)....

Video: Why you are BANNED from burning this in Chorlton, Withington, Didsbury or Northenden - Mr Soot Chimney Sweep

It’s cheap, traditional and gives a good flame picture. But burning housecoal ANYWHERE in the Manchester City Council area could land you with a fine of up to £1,000. The reason is because the whole of Manchester – including Chorlton, Withington, Didsbury, Northenden – is a designated Smoke...

mr-soot.com

nicko31 · Sep 30, 2024

Titanic said:
Is it a good thing that we don't make steel anymore?

It would have been better if the Electric arc furnace was Port Talbot was ready now. But it won't come online for a few years...

Nobby Cybergoat · Sep 30, 2024

junior said:
I've got a frew friends with traction engines, and a strong interest in the heritage rail sector, and the difficulty in getting quality coal is becoming a real concern.

Lack of a habitable planet also becoming a real concern

junior · Sep 30, 2024

nicko31 said:
Isn't Didsbury in an SCA (smoked controlled area)....

Video: Why you are BANNED from burning this in Chorlton, Withington, Didsbury or Northenden - Mr Soot Chimney Sweep

It’s cheap, traditional and gives a good flame picture. But burning housecoal ANYWHERE in the Manchester City Council area could land you with a fine of up to £1,000. The reason is because the whole of Manchester – including Chorlton, Withington, Didsbury, Northenden – is a designated Smoke...

mr-soot.com

Bizarre, I don't live anywhere near Didsbury so I wouldn't know.
We are in Cheshire, not a million miles away from the Welsh border, with no near neighbours.

schmunk · Sep 30, 2024

junior said:
Bizarre, I don't live anywhere near Didsbury so I wouldn't know.
We are in Cheshire, not a million miles away from the Welsh border, with no near neighbours.

dsr-burnley · Sep 30, 2024

Titanic said:
Is it a good thing that we don't make steel anymore?

The benefit of closing our own blast furnaces and importing steel from elsewhere, is that the carbon emissions count as someone else's quota. It's a negative as far as the planet goes, because it will make more emissions not less, and it's a negative as far as the economy goes because it puts lots of people out of work, but it's a positive as far as government spin goes because it helps them to claim they're getting nearer to net zero.

This was a Tory policy that Labour has enthusiastically taken up. Neither is much worse than the other in this case.

Machiavelli · Sep 30, 2024

Titanic said:
Is it a good thing that we don't make steel anymore?

On the whole, I'd say no. It's a strategic asset. Outside of a transformation, the economy is going to need steel. It's very heavy, so moving it further distances is far from ideal on all sorts of levels, including the fuel/energy required to import it.
Need either a public/private arrangement or it to be nationalised as a strategic asset.
All this is further complicated by the green transition, and there are plans to produce green steel, but it'll take a few years to come on board.

GT49er · Sep 30, 2024

Mustafa II said:
Hopefully soon it'll be near impossible to get hold of. These things need to stay in the past while the climate is in crisis.

Philistine! A few beautiful heritage trains and a few of the now very rare traction engines which occasionally get taken out aren't going to damage the planet.
Presumably, in your ideal world, barbecues will have to be stopped too? Too right - they produce more smoke than heritage steam trains in this country these days!

Mellor 3 Ward 4 · Sep 30, 2024

nicko31 said:
UK becomes first major industrialised economy to ditch coal from electricity grid.

UK to close last coal power station after 142 years

The UK's last coal power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, is due to end operations on Monday.

www.bbc.co.uk

Same day last blast furnaces goes too.

Port Talbot: steel town braces for shutdown of its last blast furnace

Closure to make way for greener electric arc furnace deals heavy blow to local people and ends ability to make ‘virgin steel’

theguardian.com

The transition is well underway and is gathering pace

Tell that to China and India.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Sep 30, 2024

junior said:
What a shame. We still burn coal at home on the open fires and in the Aga, and it's getting more and more expensive and difficult to get hold of.

The end of an era.

I've got a frew friends with traction engines, and a strong interest in the heritage rail sector, and the difficulty in getting quality coal is becoming a real concern.

Well we should jolly well keep some mines open, just for you and your friends.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Sep 30, 2024

Machiavelli said:
On the whole, I'd say no. It's a strategic asset. Outside of a transformation, the economy is going to need steel. It's very heavy, so moving it further distances is far from ideal on all sorts of levels, including the fuel/energy required to import it.
Need either a public/private arrangement or it to be nationalised as a strategic asset.
All this is further complicated by the green transition, and there are plans to produce green steel, but it'll take a few years to come on board.

It has apparently been cheaper to import it from India rather than make it here for some time. Perhaps if we paid the welsh a few rupees a day it would become cost effective.

abc · Sep 30, 2024

The irony, for many, is that Mrs Thatcher was right all along.

Kalimantan Gull · Sep 30, 2024

junior said:
What a shame. We still burn coal at home on the open fires and in the Aga, and it's getting more and more expensive and difficult to get hold of.

The end of an era.

I've got a frew friends with traction engines, and a strong interest in the heritage rail sector, and the difficulty in getting quality coal is becoming a real concern.

With the last power station closed down there should be more coal around for you to burn :shrug:

Kalimantan Gull · Sep 30, 2024

abc said:
The irony, for many, is that Mrs Thatcher was right all along.

I certainly see the irony. I protested the mines being closed down and have since protested the power stations being kept open.
Funny how the world changes.

John Byrnes Mullet · Sep 30, 2024

What a load of codswallop. Making out we are a green country and then importing the stuff from Australia and Asia.

GT49er · Sep 30, 2024

abc said:
The irony, for many, is that Mrs Thatcher was right all along.

Right? She'd no doubt rejoice that her destruction of British manufacturing industry has been carried on even after she's gone. Still, I'm sure the banking and finance sector can keep us all happy and rich, and the country prosperous. We can still get nasty things like coal and steel from Russia and India - it's ecologically fine to ship it half way round the world - I mean, it's not as if those big ship things pump out any sort of noxious gas, is it?

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