Electricity is one of those things that is only fully appreciated when a hopeful user is deprived of it. Across Europe, the cultlike fixation on wind and solar has provided precisely the environment in which households and businesses are coming to sense just how important having power as and when they need it, really is.
Germany set the tone by squandering billions of euros on subsidies to wind and solar, trashing their forests and rural heartland, as well as their hitherto reliable and affordable power supply. What could possibly go wrong?
Power prices are rocketing into the stratosphere and, even before winter drives up demand, Germans are being deprived of energy in a way that was unthinkable barely a decade ago. But such is life when you attempt to run on sunshine and breezes.
Here are a couple of reports on the inevitable renewable energy transition from the frontline.
Energy Shortages Continue Powering Inflation In Europe…Reaching “Record 8.9 Percent”!
No Tricks Zone
Pierre Gosselin
31 August 2022
Zurich’s online NZZ daily warns that come autumn, inflation in Germany could reach “double-digit figures for the first time since 1951”.
The inflation rate in Germany in August rose to 7.9 percent, up from 7.5% a month earlier.
“At such a rate, the purchasing power of money melts like snow in the sun,” writes the NZZ. In early 2021, inflation was tame, near 2%, but then soared to over 5% by autumn – long before the start of the Ukraine war.
“In the euro zone as a whole, inflation is at a record high 8.9 percent.” reports the NZZ “So there can be no talk of the hoped-for easing of the situation. On the contrary, the situation in Germany is likely to get even worse.”
Tax breaks given earlier this year on fuel are running out today and heating gas levy hikes slated for October will continue to add to inflation in Germany, and across Europe.
August energy inflation: 36%!
The main driver behind Germany’s inflation are energy prices, which rose by almost 36 percent in August. The high costs of energy are pushing food prices up. No relief is in sight.
Though Europe’s incompetent leaders try to blame Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine for the economic woes, the NZZ reminds that “the field for above-average inflation rates had already been tilled beforehand.” The major factors driving inflation are extremely reckless monetary and energy policies. Things are about to get much uglier.
Shutting down reliable conventional power plants while gas supplies tighten and green energies fail to deliver has been a major driver of the whopping 36% energy inflation seen in August.
The European central bank (ECB) has also moved too slowly in raising its interest rates. On September 8th, it is expected the ECB will raise the rate another 0.5%. Too slowly, some experts warn.
No Tricks Zone
Green Energy Fail: Germany Imposes Strict Winter Rationing on Individuals and Companies
Watts Up With That?
Eric Worrall
25 August 2022
German landlords can now turn down living area thermostats without tenant’s permission, thanks to Germany’s failed Energiewende programme, and Germany’s complete failure to plan for contingencies.
Every Contribution Counts
Stern
24 August 2022
Close the doors, turn off the lights, turn down the heating – these energy-saving rules will apply to private individuals and companies from September
New energy-saving measures will apply in Germany from September 1st. The cabinet passed a corresponding ordinance, which stipulates, for example, that retailers keep the doors of their shops closed and that monuments are no longer illuminated. An overview.
Starting next Thursday, numerous energy-saving regulations will apply in Germany: Shop doors must not be left open all the time, neon signs must go out after 10 p.m., and monuments must not be illuminated. At the workplace, a room temperature of 19 degrees Celsius should be sufficient, in public buildings the corridors remain cold. Additional regulations are scheduled to come into force on October 1.
On Wednesday, the cabinet passed two regulations based on the Energy Security Act, which are intended to save energy both in this heating season and in the coming ones. The first regulation applies from September 1st for six months, i.e. until February 28th.
Contract clauses in leases about a certain temperature are suspended for the six months. Tenants who want to save energy and turn down the heating should also be allowed to do so, as the Ministry of Economic Affairs explained.
…
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said after the cabinet meeting that the measures could save two to two and a half percent of energy consumption in Germany. That is “not so much that we can lean back” – the federal government’s savings target for winter is 20 percent. …
Stern
This will not be the last of Germany’s draconian energy saving measures. Green Party member, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck admits this energy rationing plan only saves 2.5% of the 20% energy reduction target the German government believes is required to prevent a winter blackout. I doubt anybody in Germany knows how they will achieve the rest of the 20% cut.
10 new nuclear plants could have saved Germany from all this hardship – each existing nuclear plant contributes around 2% of Germany’s energy needs, so as a rough estimate, 10 additional plants would have made up the 20% energy shortfall. Nuclear power plants only have to be refuelled every two years, so a decent nuclear programme could have completely shielded ordinary Germans and the German economy from fuel availability and price problems.
If Germany had enough reactor capacity, all the uranium reactor fuel Germany would have needed to make up their energy shortfall could have been delivered well before winter, from a friendly country like Australia. Highly radioactive nuclear waste needs careful handling, but Uranium fuel transport is much more straightforward, the radioactivity is low enough than it can be transported in regular shipping containers. Since nuclear fuel contains a million times more energy than fossil fuel, stockpiling enough nuclear fuel for winter energy needs would have been easily achievable.
But German politicians rejected the zero carbon nuclear option, and bet everything on their failed Energiewende renewable energy plans, while ignoring well meaning advice from politicians like President Trump, that Russia is an untrustworthy energy partner.
Imagine what will happen if there is a Covid or Flu outbreak this winter in Germany, with millions of ordinary people shivering in cold, energy rationed apartments, with energy too expensive to use for heating, even if the electricity or gas is available.
Of course no German politician or high ranking official is likely to suffer from cold this winter, they always seem to take care of themselves first. It is ordinary Germans who will pay for the stupidity and arrogance of their leaders.
Watts Up With That?
