But Britain, for now at least, needs the Drax plant, which has six boiler-and-turbine units that churn out enough electricity to supply nearly 8 percent of the country’s needs. And most other industrialized countries will still need their own big power producers for years to come. There are not yet enough wind turbines and solar panels on earth to meet the global demand for electricity.

Electric cars, for instance, are on the rise. So are electric-powered manufacturing processes like robotics and 3-D printing. Service businesses, ever more digitally driven, need their electrons to keep the data flowing. “Electricity is where it’s at,” Professor Helm said.

The priority, though, is phasing out power stations like Drax’s that are still heavily reliant on burning coal, the dirtiest and most carbon-emitting of fossil fuels. As China and India, each with more than a billion people, continue to industrialize, their officials say they have little choice but to continue burning coal as part of the energy mix. Whatever agreements might be reached in Paris, as much as 30 percent of the world’s electricity might still come from coal by 2040.

But Western industrialized nations, though they still rely heavily on coal for power generation, are intent on cutting back. About 25 percent of Europe’s electricity is still generated by coal plants, and in the United States the figure is even higher — around 40 percent — according to the International Energy Agency.