How will Britain turn off its gas grid?
Gas has been piped to British homes for 50 years. Switching it off will be a headache
“THE GAS flame burns bright with promise over the North Sea,” declared a Pathé News film in 1966 as a huge flare burst from a steel tower mounted on a rig. “And Gas Council experts plan for…when the whole of Britain may be using natural gas.” At the time the film aired, most homes either burned coal or used town gas, which was made by heating coal and then stored in gasometers that dominated the city skyline. Both were dirty and expensive. The discovery of North Sea reservoirs—a “timely bonus from Mother Nature”—ushered in a new era. Within a decade, nearly all British homes had switched to natural gas.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Off the boiler”
Britain October 14th 2023
- Britain’s Labour Party embraces supply-side social democracy
- Britain’s Tory rulers set the weather for Labour’s fiscal policy
- Even when he glitters, Sir Keir Starmer still struggles to shine
- How will Britain turn off its gas grid?
- Why a British challenger bank got into trouble
- Why British politicians are defending women-only spaces
- The rise of Britain’s new nanny state
From the October 14th 2023 edition
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