The UK ran without coal power for three whole days

The UK's broken its coal-free energy record, passing the previous record of 55 hours, which was set a couple days before – it's the longest streak without firing up the coal power stations since the 1880s.

What it means: Britain used to be pretty reliant on coal to power its electricity, but in 2017, coal accounted for just 7 per cent of the 'power mix' – which sounds like the shake that guy at your gym drinks, but is actually just the makeup of all the different power sources we use.

The government is trying to phase out the use of coal completely, and for most people in the UK, energy was coming from a combination of gas and wind – insert fart joke here if that's your thing.

The problem with gas is that it's still a fossil fuel, which means it's a finite resource. Environmental What's this?  campaigners are saying the UK isn't doing enough to make sure that once it phases coal out it replaces it with renewable sources, like wind.

According to official stats, there were only two days in the whole of 2017 where wind powered more of the UK's power network, called the 'grid', than gas.

And it's not just the whole running out of fossil fuels thing that worries people: the UK imports more than half of its gas. According to British Gas (and they'd know) 44 per cent comes through gas lines under the sea from Europe and Norway, 13 per cent is brought over in tankers from other places in the world. That means the UK is susceptible to 'global changes', experts say. If one of those country puts its prices up, say, we'd end up having to pay more for our heating. Or if another government decides to stop producing so much gas, turning the stove on could cost you more.

Read the full story (The BBC)