For First Time Since 1800s, Britain Goes a Day Without Burning Coal for Electricity
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/world/europe/britain-burning-coal-electricity.html?_r=0
LONDON Friday was the first full day since the height of the Industrial Revolution that Britain did not burn coal to generate electricity, a development that officials and climate change activists celebrated as a watershed moment.
The accomplishment became official just before 11 p.m., when the 24-hour period ended.
Coal powered Britain into the industrial age and into the 21st century, contributing greatly to the pea souper fogs that were thought for decades to be a natural phenomenon of the British climate.
For many living in the mining towns up and down the country, it was not just the backbone of the economy but a way of life. But the industry has been in decline for some time. The last deep coal mine closed in December 2015, though open cast mining has continued.
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