The UK is turning green
In the UK, 2030 will probably be the last year in
which fossil fuel vehicles could be bought, at least this is what is rumored. Indeed,
in order to tackle the economic crises and to trigger as fast as possible a green
economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, United Kingdom Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and his cabinet are expected to announce this autumn the
acceleration of the ban on fossil fuel vehicle from 2040 to 2030.
This speed up on the rollout of electric vehicles is
expected to accelerate the shift to EVs and would «give a new lease of life to
the UK car industry, whilst combating climate breakdown and cleaning up the air
that dangerously pollutes so many of our towns and cities», the shadow climate
change minister Matthew Pennycook said. Moreover, other environmental and
energetic policies are expected to be presented, after several delays, this
autumn, with the release of the energy white paper that will underpin the
government’s legally binding target to create a net-zero carbon economy by
2050.
But will it be possible to deal with all the new
energy requirements without compromising the stability of the National Grid? In
the words of its Project Director, Mr. Graeme Cooper, the grid operator «can
easily cope» with a boom in electric vehicle charging: based on their research,
electrifying all road transport, aside from heavy goods vehicles, would require
less than a third more energy than Great Britain’s current demand (around 300
terawatt/hours).
Besides being a great way to tackle climate change and
the economic crises, this ban would give the UK a lot of prestige: it would put
the UK ahead of France and in line with Germany, Ireland and one of the most
environmentally friendly countries, the Netherlands.
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