UK passes 1,000 hours without coal as energy shift accelerates

Revival of last eight coal plants when 'beast from the east' hit Britain proved to be brief

Britain has been powered for more than a thousand hours without coal this year, in a new milestone underscoring how the polluting fuel's decline is accelerating.

The UK's last eight coal power plants staged a brief revival when the "beast from the east" pushed up gas prices earlier this year, causing coal plants to fire up.