In Germany, around €190 billion has already been burnt on renewable subsidies; currently the green energy levy costs €56 million every day. And, the level of subsidy for wind and solar sees Germans paying €20 billion a year for power that gets sold on the power exchange for around €2 billion.
Energy poverty is a feature of daily life for hundreds of thousands; the promise of millions of groovy ‘green’ jobs is little more than a cruel hoax; and, adding insult to injury, the pretext for the insanity – the reduction of CO2 emissions in the electricity sector – hasn’t quite panned out as Green edicts predicted: emissions are, instead, rising fast.
If the justification for subsidies that will top €1 tillion was cutting CO2 gas emissions, the report card for 2016 on Germany’s Energiewende should score a big fat ‘F’.
Failure…Hundreds Of Billions For Nothing As Germany CO2 Reductions Stagnant Almost 10 Years!
No Tricks Zone
Pierre Gosselin
15 January 2017
It’s good to see that I am not the only person looking critically at Germany’s rather inept attempt to switch over to green energy sources in order to reduce CO2 emissions.
The environmentalprogress.org site here presents a good overview of Germany’s recent performance when it comes to reducing so-called “greenhouse gases”. Unfortunately German citizens have not seen any success recently for the tens of billions of euros they are paying extra for the “Energiewende” (transition to renewable energy).
A new Environmental Progress analysis finds that “German emissions increased in 2016 for a second year in a row”, blaming the result on “the country closing one of its nuclear plants and replacing it with coal and natural gas”. Obviously wind and sun failed to step in and do the job.
Environmental Progress reports the shocking result:
Not only did new solar and wind not make up for the lost nuclear, the percentage of time during 2016 that solar and wind produced electricity declined dramatically.
Germany added a whopping 10 percent more wind turbine capacity and 2.5 percent more solar panel capacity between 2015 and 2016, but generated less than one percent more electricity from wind and generated one percent less electricity from solar.”
The site describes Germany’s wild variability that the country has to deal with producing power from sun and wind.
2016’s rise to 916 gigatonnes of CO2 extends Germany’s streak of failing to lower its CO2 emissions to 8 years. The following chart goes to 2014. The year 2015 saw 908 gigatonnes CO2 emissions compared to 902 in 2014.
***
This means Germany literally has made virtually no progress at all over the past decade. The latest jump in CO2 emissions make the chances of Germany reaching its 2020 CO2 reductions target even far more remote. Add to this that subsidies for wind and solar power recently have been watered down and the surge of up to 2 million refugees will boost demand for energy. Germany’s commitment to fulfilling the Paris Agreement is looking like a real farce.
Another fact that shows that solar and wind will never work: Environmental Progress points out that even if Germany adds 50% more solar panel capacity by 2030, it will boost solar’s share of power from 6% to 9 percent.
Germany’s Energiewende has only succeeded in massively elevating Germany’s consumer power prices, making its power almost twice as expensive as power in neighboring France, which relies heavily on nuclear. While France’s power is half the cost, the country also emits far less CO2 from electricity production:
That’s what one would call success. Why some countries are still racing into the renewable energy foray despite the German debacle, remains a mystery.
Read all of the Environmental Progress report here.
No Tricks Zone
Talk about missing the target!
As STT followers are aware – wind power is the last system you would subscribe to if you were out to cut CO2 emissions:
And then there’s other energy chewing and CO2 spewing turbine related operations like this.
Helicopter De-Icing For Wind Turbines
Not a lot of People Know That
Paul Homewood
8 December 2016
It will come as no great surprise to learn that wind turbines in cold climes have an unfortunate habit of icing up in winter!
As a consequence there is growing demand for helicopters to de-ice them, as the above video shows.
One company involved, Alpine Helicopter, describes their offer:
Airborne de-icing solution for wind turbines!
New research and field tests has made it possible to remove ice and snow from wind turbine blades without breaking the bank!
With a helicopter and hot water, Alpine Helicopter AB has made it their business idea to spray the blades rather than waiting for thaw. Until now, there has been no other alternatives than to wait for the ice to melt if the wind turbine isn’t equipped with a de-icing system. Founder Mats Widgren has developed this cost effective no chemicals solution, using regular water and a helicopter to efficiently remove snow and ice from the wind turbine’s blades.
The solution is easy: a truck equipped with a fuel tank and oil burner – with the capacity to hold 44m3 water – heats the water from 7ºC to 65ºC in 6,5 hours. The equipment has been developed in collaboration with Skellefteå Kraft AB and the truck also has a fuel depot for the helicopter. Everything is completed for efficient setup in the field with a tank and sprayer mounted under the helicopter. The hot water is then sprayed onto the the blades in the same way as when de-icing an aircraft.
Electricity producers operating in cold climates have experienced downtime costs while waiting until the ice naturally melts due to a lack of alternatives. De-icing of wind turbines with helicopter is a new and tested technology, which has been exercised on site Uljabuouda in Arjeplog. The tests show very promising results and has the support to further develop the de-icing system between 2014 and 2016 by the Swedish Energy Agency.
http://www.vindkraftsbranschen.se/wind2014/exhibition/company-description/
Does not sound very low carbon to me!
Not a Lot of People Know That
STOP THESE THINGS 
Reblogged this on Climate- Science.
On the other hand, if we take the view of Diogenes the Cynic, it may be that Energiewende is a huge success — I have long considered that its detestation of nuclear and dependence on weather-dependent energy was clearly a policy designed to give the market to coal and hydrocarbons.
I am certain that we MUST put fossil carbon out of business, and that only nuclear can do so. It seems likely that the fossil fuel energy companies in Europe could have crafted the rules that say “renewables, and no nuclear” to keep themselves in business.
Ah well they can keep trying to get these things to work and prove themselves – but everything they try fails.
Even making them bigger and putting them in in larger numbers has proven not to make them anymore efficient – they are just bigger and more of them. The technology of these things has come to its inevitable end.
No matter how much they say their new technology is advancing
they can’t even keep them free from icing up – nature wins again. Maybe they are waiting for the earth to warm up so they don’t have to De-ice – but what will they do about keeping them cool in increasing higher temperatures – send a helicopter up with a big fan?
Does STT censor comments or did I not hit the send button of a previous comment
With respect to climate change and those damned windmills Tony Abbott could have done for Australia what Trump is doing for America.
Tony Abbott failed
Kathleen Wynne Premier of Ontario is being sued by government workers union
In South Australia unions are a part of the problem
Yes, Brian we reserve the right to prevent defamatory and inflammatory comments from being posted. We welcome sensible comments and expect those commenting to to do so sensibly. While we appreciate the anger felt by people concerned about the effect subsidised wind power has on power pricing and supply and what these things do to families and communities, vitriolic, defamatory rants will not be posted. You might bear that in mind in future.
Now that rich people’s stolen trees/forest wood is being cut down and stolen away, to burn for warmth by those who cannot afford to heat their homes may have something to do with the rise in CO2 emissions….
Reblogged this on UPPER SONACHAN WIND FARM and commented:
Inevitable – and as expected.
Helicopter de-icing? I thought I was joking a coupla weeks ago (when a German[?] was narrowly missed by a massive shard of ice from a wind-trubine) by quipping that we’d be seeing helicopters flitting in a dance-of-death between rotating blades. That, or when they’re stationary (in an ice- fog??!!), in anticipation of the next breath of wind.
And who said the operating costs of Renewables are minimal?
To expand the ‘Laughables’, might I suggest Alpine Helicopters also offer cleaning the dirt off solar panels once a month, using dangling squeegee squads, complete with Windex and paper towels?
Reblogged this on Wolsten.
Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
And after a €1TRILLION of other people’s money burnt on Energiewende, ideologically-green Germany is reverting *back* to CO2-intensive coal with the biggest coal-fired power expansion in her history planned over the next ten years.
What a sick joke.
What a scam.
What a giant con.
Germany adds 10% more turbines and produces less than 1% more electricity
People seem to have difficulty in understanding
Wind turbines do not produce useable electricity
It is one huge scam that without subsidies would not have got off the ground