From Dr. Benny Peiser at The GWPF
As a result of Germany’s green energy transition, electricity prices are exploding. Consumers and businesses are paying the price while Germany faces gradual de-industrialisation. Economists estimate that the cost of the green energy transition will total 170 billion Euros by 2020. This is more than double of what Germany would have to write off if Greece were to withdraw from the monetary union. “The de-industrialization has already begun,” the EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has warned. —Handelsblatt, 23 May 2012
Opposition to a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing has slowed the development of natural gas in Europe, creating export opportunities for U.S. producers hurt by low prices and a glut of gas at home. By 2020, Europe will be using more shale gas produced in the U.S. than from domestic fracking, Wood Mackenzie estimates. –Katarzyna Klimasinska, Bloomberg 23 May 2012
Investments in renewable energy could be put on hold while European governments develop clear policies on shale gas, according to a biomass energy expert. The prospect of increasing production of cheap shale gas in Europe has impacted investors’ forward planning, Chris Moore, CEO of MGT Power told a forest industry conference in London on Thursday. “If anything, it’s going to cause a waiting period, and that’s bad for renewable energy. You’re going to see a lot of question marks on renewables and their affordability,” said Moore. —Environmental Finance, 17 May 2012
The Energy Bill constitutes a disastrous move towards a centrally planned energy economy with a high level of control over which forms of energy generation will be favoured and which will be stifled. The government even seeks to regulate the prices and profits of energy generation. –Nigel Lawson, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 23 May 2012
At a time when most major economies are gradually returning to cheap and abundant fossil fuels, mainly in form of coal and natural gas, Britain alone seems prepared to sacrifice its economic competitiveness and recovery by opting for the most expensive forms of energy. –Benny Peiser, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 23 May 2012
Those who doubt that market forces still have the power to transform the world aren’t paying attention to America’s revitalized energy sector. Prices more than policy are driving these remarkable changes. Other problems to be fixed, rising CO2 emissions, for example, will also yield to the indomitable pressure of price, if carbon is taxed. While Washington squabbled over which energy direction to take, and which energy bill to kill, the markets moved us in exactly the direction the country should go — toward cheap, plentiful energy. –Joel Kurtzman, The Wall Street Journal, 22 May 2012
Detroit, anyone?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html
Evidently Germany doesn’t fear de-industrialization enough, at least not yet.
German de-industrialization should be good for USA, Japan, China. Bad for the Germans. But that will learn them.
Germans giving up on emissions trading because of EU debt.
German bourse scraps EU carbon emissions trading
http://uk.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=UKBRE84L0SN20120522
I’m in Brisbane Aussie, in the last state election I was watching the results come in and couln’t help noticing the green votes came from the cities. It just made me think that the people that acually work with the land and survive from it are well aware it has to be managed. I had an instant mental picture of the town greenie cultivating his tomato plant on the townhouse verandah. Then recalled the best bumper sticker I’ve seen,(the only true wilderness is between a greenies ears)
… electricity prices are exploding …
… has slowed the development of natural gas in Europe …
… renewable energy could be put on hold …
… constitutes a disastrous move towards a centrally planned energy economy …
… seems prepared to sacrifice its economic competitiveness and recovery …
… who doubt that market forces … aren’t paying attention …
One would think that after they shot themselves in the foot the first time – – they would have stopped pulling the trigger.
”You can fool some of the people all of the time, and … “
Unfortunately in Europe, that “some” is a majority.
Question is – how many fools do we have here in the US?
We’ll know the answer Nov. 7.
This BBC headline today say it all: “Eurozone downturn accelerating”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18186972
Part of this is energy foolishness, part the debt crisis, but a significant part is actually already from climate cooling – this will sustain the economic downturn in the coming years.
What was the Morgenthau Plan?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan
George says: May 24, 2012 at 10:29 am
What I can’t understand is the post Fukushima attitude toward nuclear power. …..
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Nuke power plant construction is running fast in China, Korea, Russia, India, and several other countries. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/info.html#education Only the West and Japan are turning away from the safety, economy, low emissions, and long-term fuel resources of nuclear generated electricity. It seems that our “leaders” truly don’t understand that cheap energy increases quality of living. Indeed, the current US President campaigned on a platform of “Under my administration, energy prices will necessarily skyrocket”
Back to the Dark Ages.
In the year 2100, If someone were to produce a graph of human misery in the previous 150 years
It would look like a hockey stick.
I think the people everywhere have turned already. It’s the politicians who have to catch up with them.
George said:
There are only two major military expansions currently underway on the planet: China and Russia and their allies. Neither of those countries are buying into the “green energy” hype. The US Army is now the slated in 2 years to be smaller than it has been since 1940, the Navy smallest since 1915, and the Air Force since it has been in existence. Meanwhile, China and Russia are engaging in a military expansion.
I don’t think history is pre-determined, but nevertheless there seem to be parallels between the position of the United States today and that of Great Britain just over 100 years ago which should be troubling to Americans. The power of the US compared to other nations was probably at its greatest just after the collapse of Communism a little more than 20 years ago but, as George said, it is now in decline, though perhaps not irretrievably.
British power was at its peak at the time of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in June 1897. Ironically we will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth in just over a week’s time. The high point of the celebrations in June 1897 was the naval review at Spithead where no fewer than 165 British warships sailed past. Rudyard Kipling was so overawed by the display of sea power that he wrote:
Never dreamed that there was anything like it under Heaven. It was beyond words— beyond any description!
Nevertheless, even though British power was apparently at its greatest, in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee Kipling had written the poem Recessional in which he correctly foresaw the decline of British power and the end of the British Empire.
Recessional
God of our fathers, known of old—
Lord of our far-flung battle line—
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Amen.
Of course the challenge to the US from China and other powers might fizzle out, as did the economic challenge from Japan. Who knows? But perhaps in another 40 years or so historians will look back at this time and say that the costs of green policies were the last straw which led to US pomp and power becoming, in Kipling’s words, “one with Nineveh and Tyre.”
The title is: “Germany Fears De-Industrialization”. But the actual citation is: “The de-industrialization has already begun,” the EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has warned.
Thus Germany does not fear anything, but the puppet of the nuclear lobby is trying to scare Germany.
Reading comprehension is again severely limited at WUWT. It’s a pity, as a scientist I like sceptics. But since reading this blog, I am sure that if the theory of man made climate change will be refuted, it will be by a scientist and not by this community. Try harder.
Rockyroad, Dude, I have a cold fusion system ready to market soon. Just need maybe half a billion to bring it to market. Are you tight with Mr. O.? Maybe put in a good word for me and we can get this deal done and save the world.
It’s difficult to say whether the current German politicians of all parties are incompetent or working for a foreign power. Infiltration has happened since the 70ies; at that time the Soviets and the East Germans wanted to control first of all the SPD (the Guillaume affair).
Later Gorbachev played the nice guy in public while secretly strengthening the KGB and trying to get influence over the “peace movement” aka the Greens; while the West was playing the same game in Russia.
Putin is a KGB man and the KGB practically rules Russia. Maybe Germany as well.
So what can we expect? Well, more ruinous policies across the EU. What the Soviets always wanted was bring the entirety of Europe under their control.
Oh, and if an accident happens to Romney; Obama would have more flexibility in his second term as you know… if he doesn’t lose the election to Uncommitted.
SteveSadlov says:
May 24, 2012 at 10:19 am
Coming to California in 2013 (when AB32 really starts to kick in).
Hmph! The Gerries got nuthin on us Californios! Nor the Limeys! We went one further!
We didn’t merely have our elected representatives pass AB32 and SB375, as other nations have similarly done, we Californios, democratically mind you, defeated Proposition 23 by popular vote!
We went all-in as a people! And I, for one, will now make every effort to see that these two laws are implemented to their fullest. Why? Because I am old enough, and have no skin in the game (no offspring in the offing), which translates to simply pure entertainment value.
“We” Californios voted to commit seppuku. Would it be considered unpatriotic to cheer them/us on?
And now a word from our sponsors:
(familiar music such as Dut ta dah dut dot DAH!!!!)
“If you thought last summer’s San Diego, south Orange County blackout was cool, you will be addicted to the new reality primetime show “The Power Hunger Games”, debuting in the first quarter of 2013. See Californios bake live on the freeways when side-street stoplights go kaput, Sigalerts a sick joke when broadcasting anything hits the electron/brick wall! While our carbon-intensive (to manufacture) batteries last, we will bring you sustainable coverage of un-permitted generators sputtering to a stop as they run out of California boutique carbon-based fuels which can no longer be pumped into EPA-certified, low VOC gas cans when the “juice” dries up. You will be eye-witnesses when cellphone batteries flicker-out and all that is left is……….The Power Hunger Games………….Stay tuned………/sarc
May you live in interesting times.
Victor Venema says:
May 24, 2012 at 4:10 pm
“The title is: “Germany Fears De-Industrialization”. But the actual citation is: “The de-industrialization has already begun,” the EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has warned.
Thus Germany does not fear anything, but the puppet of the nuclear lobby is trying to scare Germany.”
Of course the deindustrialization has begun. An aluminium smelter in Voerde has declared insolvency. Thyssen wants to get out of steel entirely and plans to sell its steel daughter Inoxum to a Finnish company called Outukumpu who will probably dismantle the German steelmills and sell’em to China or India.
Energy-intensive industries have no future in Germany and that’s how the Greens have always wanted it – They always wanted higher energy prices to create an incentive to use less. Now that it’s happening you and the Greens say it’s only a lie by the “the puppet of the nuclear lobby”? Oh please.
Trittin, ex-communist and now boss of the Greens, is on the record to have declared that “gasoline is till not expensive enough, it needs to go up to 5 D-Mark” – that was quite a while back. Recently he was aked “Mr. Trittin, gasoline is reaching 1.70 EUR (about 3.40 D-Mark) (a liter); are you happy about that?” He didn’t answer the question.
The Greens are lying through their teeth – they WANTED extreme energy prices, they GOT them and now they pretend they never wanted it.
Vince Causey says:
May 24, 2012 at 8:26 am
“Maybe Germany should move their manufacturing base to Greece – Lord knows they would be glad of the work – and the Germans can pursue a service economy, say – oh I dunno – how about finance?”
The reason for the uncompetitiveness of Greece is the same as alway:
Bloated state bueraucracy, most big companies state-owned – the largest private company is Hellenic Bottling, the local Coke licensee – the larger companies have NOT been privatized even though it was demanded and promised many times over the past 3 years. Low productivity and high wages and pensions in the state-owned companies.
So, if we moved our manufacturing to Greece, Volkswagens would in the future be build by Greek state employees with inflated wages, a low productivity and very likely without any quality check that deserves its names. And you could buy a Volkswagen starting at 100,000 EUR and it would fall apart right after delivery.
I’m not sure how this would help anyone.
Given that Germany’s industrial might is supposed to pay to save the Euro this does look like the standard left hand right hand problem.
Dear DirkH . I was not discussing the De-Industrilization of Germany, but the errors in the post.
And that error still stands, except if you are Germany and your personal fear justifies the headline/lie: “Germany fears De-Industralisation”. And I did not know that I am the Greens.
On your topic: The world economy is not doing well, but the energy and commodity prices are still very high. Once the world economy is running better again, the prices will be very high. Then the much more energy and resource efficient German economy will still perform, the USA will crumble.
You see a green conspiracy against Germany that started in the 70ies? Then Germany is doing pretty well after 40 years and I still have some American optimism left for the next 40 years in Germany. No idea where the USA will stand in 40 years. Maybe something like Russia, a regional power with nuclear weapons and a dysfunctional government.
freezeframe says: May 24, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Rockyroad, Dude, I have a cold fusion system ready to market soon. Just need maybe half a billion to bring it to market. Are you tight with Mr. O.? Maybe put in a good word for me and we can get this deal done and save the world.
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Much more than a half a billion $ has been spent every year in the US alone on hot fusion development, and commercialization has been 20 years away for more than 40 years. Funding for cold fusion research is two orders of magnitude less, but more excess energy has been produced than by hot fusion organizations. US Navy SPAWAR and Stanford Research International are quite credible and both organizations can demonstrate cold fusion at will. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VymhJCcNBBc I, for one, am not happy that my government chooses to spend so much on one and so little on the other. Cut the big one in half and increase the little one by a factor of 10, and you save more than a half billion every year.
RobRoy says:
May 24, 2012 at 9:24 am
There are numerous reports and web sites that track recent developments. Here’s one I use:
http://peswiki.com/index.php/News:Cold_Fusion
And another: http://world.std.com/~mica/cft.html
One of the six companies I mentioned, a US concern called Brillouin Energy Corp, claims to have perfected the CF process with the generation of elemental helium from hydrogen using nickel simply as a catylist. (Some companies are still at the stage where hydrogen is combined with nickel to produce copper, but that’s apparently an incomplete process.)
Wade says:
May 24, 2012 at 9:35 am
Nobody working on LENR/LANR/CF claims it is a “perpetual motion machine”, Wade. Only those that don’t understand the process make such claims—which are unfounded, of course. And lest you think this is a joke, consider these recent developments at M.I.T.:
(Start at the 5:00 minute mark)
Professor Hagelstein’s own description in video format:
http://cryptogon.com/?p=28977
freezeframe says:
May 24, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Me tight with Mr O? Hardly. He and I see the world as polar opposites. He uses a “Yes We Can” approach; I use a “Yes I Can” approach. The difference is fundamental and astounding. And considering his “luck” with capital investment in “green” technologies, I’d go with someone who has expertise in capital investment. May I suggest a wise alternative?
Mr. R, of course.
Marshall Foch will be pleased, this is exactly what he wanted to happen to Germany in 1918.
DirkH
“So, if we moved our manufacturing to Greece, Volkswagens would in the future be build by Greek state employees with inflated wages, a low productivity and very likely without any quality check that deserves its names. And you could buy a Volkswagen starting at 100,000 EUR and it would fall apart right after delivery.
I’m not sure how this would help anyone.”
Indeed. But that assumes that the Germans just hand over the licence to produce cars to the Greeks. My plan calls for the VW to move their factories to Greece just as many Western factories have opened in China. The working times will be the same per employee as for the German workers; the wages will be as VW decide to pay them. If they can’t turn up on time and press the right buttons on the production lines, they are free to go back to the soup kitchens.
Of course, the German workers left behind would not be happy – not at all.