There was positive news on the renewable energy front in 2022, according to the latest figures from National Grid.

BBC News reported that Great Britain produced a record amount of wind-powered electricity, with more electricity from renewable and nuclear sources than from gas and coal.

Although gas remained the single biggest source of electric power (38.5%), coal contributed just 1.5%, taking the fossil fuel power station total to 40%. Meanwhile, the combined output of wind (26.8%), nuclear (15.5%), solar (4.4%) and hydro (1.8) reached 48.5%.

This trend must continue as we strive to combat the effects of climate change. Hopefully, it will also leave the world less exposed to the impact of major price fluctuations in global gas and oil markets.

It’s also important to remember that electricity is only a renewable energy source when it’s generated by renewable means.

If your car is charged using electricity from a coal-fired power station, or your heat pump operates on electricity generated by a gas turbine, that’s hardly renewable, is it?

Our reliance on coal – by far the most polluting fossil fuel – fell from over 40% a decade ago to 1.5% last year. That shift has made a huge difference to our contribution to climate change and makes the Government’s recent decision to approve the UK’s first new coal mine in 30 years even more mystifying. It is expected to produce an estimated 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. Read the Guardian newspaper article.