Planning for an Icy Future
Planning for an Icy Future
In Germany the harsh winter has conveyed dramatic warning of how nasty life will become as it proceeds with its extreme Energiewende policy to rely on renewables to meet its electricity needs.
A few days ago, as snow blanketed the country, power supplies from solar panels and wind generators almost disappeared; the nation depended almost totally on traditional energy sources – coal, gas and nuclear. But remaining nuclear stations will be shut by 2023; coal and gas are to be phased out completely as part of the European Union’s Net Zero Carbon plan.
William Engdahl, the geopolitical commentator, says the strategy is already an economic catastrophe. “Going from having one of the industrial world’s most stable, low-cost and reliable electric generation grids, today Germany has become the world’s most expensive electric generator,”
As coal is being phased out, traditional energy-intensive industries such as steel, glass, chemicals, paper and cement manufacturing are facing soaring costs and shutdown or offshoring.
The German push to end transportation by petrol and diesel cars by 2025 in favour of e-vehicles “is on course to destroy Germany’s largest and most profitable industry, the auto sector, and take down millions of jobs. The lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles have a total carbon footprint, when the effects of mining lithium and producing parts are included, that is worse than diesel autos. “The energy-inefficient wind and solar today costs some seven to nine times more than gas.”
Germany already has some 30,000 wind turbines – more than anywhere else in Europe. But the gigantic machines cause serious problems of noise and health hazards for people and birds. “By 2025 an estimated 25 per cent of existing German windmills will need replacement, and waste disposal is a colossal problem.”
Another place to receive early warning of the nasty consequences of policies designed to combat global warming is Texas, where an ice storm froze wind turbines, the source of a significant portion of energy supply. Last year there was a similar climate crisis in California, where record heat swamped demand for power for air-conditioning because supply has become too dependent on solar and wind turbines.
“Here is the paradox of the Left’s climate agenda,” says commentator Mike Shedlock – “the less we use fossil fuels, the more we need them.”
Planning for an Icy Future taken from our ‘On Target Newsletter’ issue no 264
