Occasional renewables snark - Gridwatch

Not if we have exported the problem and then imported the goods from the heavy industries that create more CO2 than would have been the case if the UK had made the goods.

The net result may actually mean that *our* contribution to global CO2 has increased if other countries used vast amounts of dirty coal to make the products.

This is very much the case for the Port Talbot blast furnaces, that have now closed. AIUI they are to be replaced by arc furnaces, which will melt scrap steel (fridges, cookers, crushed cars, etc). But we will now have to import all our requirements for raw steel, presumably made in blast furnaces in India or China, where there is little or no commitment to reducing CO2. So we will just be exporting our CO2 production rather than actually reducing it. I predict lots of fudges like that over the coming years.

Is that "if" or "when"?

With claimed processing of 3 million tonnes/year, that's about 7% of HPC eaten before it starts.

These are questions that no one dares answer,

'Yessir renewables have led to an overall 5% rise in total CO2 emissions' us not the story they want you to hear...

Not if the backup systems have to run inefficiently.