From the GWPF: French Socialists Follow Germany, Shift Away From Nuclear To Renewables
Via Agency France-Press: France on Wednesday unveiled a much-anticipated bill to reduce the country’s dependency on nuclear energy and fossil fuels, after months of intense debate over one of the Socialist government’s pet projects. Experts estimate it will cost the country between 15 and 30 billion euros in investments every year until the so-called “energy transition” is completed.
The planned law, presented to the cabinet by energy and environment minister Segolene Royal, seeks to make France a greener country and reduce the nation’s energy bill.
The bill is a chance “to develop new technologies, clean transport, energy efficiency and therefore to improve companies’ competitiveness,” Royal told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
It aims to cut the country’s final energy consumption in half by 2050 and reduce the use of fossil fuels by 30 percent by 2030, in comparison with 2012 when Francois Hollande was elected president.
It also looks to reduce France’s huge dependency on nuclear energy for electricity from 75 percent to 50 percent — one of Hollande’s campaign promises — and to increase the use of renewables.
The bill lays out scores of measures including an obligation to make buildings and houses more energy efficient during renovations and installing seven million charging stations for electric cars over the next 15 years.
The bill, which still has to go through a long parliamentary process, was the subject of an intense nine-month debate as companies, NGOs, lawmakers and unions each fought their corners.
Experts estimate it will cost the country between 15 and 30 billion euros in investments every year until the so-called “energy transition” is completed.
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I wonder who ghost wrote All Gore’s Rolling Stone diatribe.
He doesn’t have the mental competency to string two sentences together. And to think this fatuous fool was actually nominated for the Presidency by the political party I grew up in.
Oy Vey!
Some facts & figs on French & UK grids, plus ‘Green energy’ figs & costs
• • According to the wind industry (may 2014), UK has 1,278 Windfarms comprising –
9,912 Large Industrial Turbines, + approx 18,000 small units,
Total Capacity = 23 GW
See – http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/index.cfm/maplarge/1
• • At the moment wind is only contributing (0.51 GW; we are importing 7 x that from France & Holland), a mere 1.4% to our grid demand !! Look here – http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ ; giving wind a production factor of just 2.% (Gas is 70%);.
• • And this is the French Grid live figs – http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/
Weather systems can be huge, Europe has had high pressure dominating for weeks, so sod all wind from Ireland to Poland, Italy to Scotland.
• • Live production from your local windfarm – RWEs interactive Euro map- http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/206488/rwe-innogy/sites/production-data-live/rwe-renewable-energy-live/ Notes; 1. Capacity is in MW but output in kW so ÷ 1,000 to compare. 2. A minus fig indicates drawing power from grid to rotate blades.
• • And this is how much EXTRA we pay per mth for low density intermittent ‘green’ energy – http://www.variablepitch.co.uk/finance/ & yes the figs are £millions/mth.
• • Lots more info from-
Department of Energy & Climate Change ( DECC ) & Grid figs
( Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics ( DUKES)
http://tinyurl.com/n4k7n8 )
These are the Billions ££ we give for intermittent ‘green’ energy –
http://www.variablepitch.co.uk/finance/ – & yes the monthly totals ARE £££ millions.
To see how little we get for that all that cash, look here – http://www.ukpowergeneration.info/
It is a very dangerous world, when politics trump science & engineering facts.
Titan28 says: June 18, 2014 at 3:37 pm
According to this actual production, the first 5 months of this year was nearly 17%
http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/downloads-englisch/pdf-files-englisch/data-nivc-/electricity-production-from-solar-and-wind-in-germany-2014.pdf
Well that’s one small step for l’homme, and one giant leap backwards for l’humanité.
The bill is a chance “to develop new technologies, clean transport, energy efficiency and therefore to improve companies’ competitiveness,”
Amazingly, almost all climate alarmists and green voters believe in the notion that by making energy 3x more expensive your country will be more competitive and more jobs will be created. Even more amazingly, their belief in this notion intensifies when these policies cause companies to go bust or relocate offshore and the unemployment and debt levels subsequently rise.
Go figure…?
@ur momisugly mods: Apologies, you were right. But his uninformed comment insulting millions of people just rubbed me the wrong way. Let me try again.
@ur momisugly Max Hugoson
I find your comment of 2:04pm distastefull. Did you ever spend some time in France? Have you ever had diner and a good conversation with a French person to get to know him/her? How would you respond when someone wrote such a bigoted and hatefull comment about Americans?
So you DESPISE anything French huh?
Antibiotics?
Aspirin?
Hypodermic needles?
Rubber?
Cinema?
Roulette?
Pasteurization?
Blood transfusion?
Internal combustion engines?
Codeine?
Margarine?
Champagne?
Braille?
Binoculars?
Hair dryers?
Reduce energy consumption by 50%? Start by rationing. If they don’t produce enough electricity to meet demand, that will reduce consumption. Consumption will be reduced even more as the population either dies off or emigrates.
John says:
June 18, 2014 at 4:12 pm
“So you DESPISE anything French huh?
Antibiotics?
[…}
Binoculars?
Hair dryers?”
You forgot the most important thing… Les Filles…
Agenda 21 in all its glorious technicolour. Coming soon to a neighbourhood near you…
‘seeks to make France a greener country and reduce the nation’s energy bill’
It aims to cut the country’s final energy consumption in half by 2050
Experts estimate it will cost the country between 15 and 30 billion euros in investments every year until the so-called “energy transition” is completed.
==========
by raising the price and cutting consumption in half, the overall bill may be reduced. but the investments (investments are not costs in accounting terminology) required is staggering.
Leigh says:
June 18, 2014 at 2:44 pm
“The UK currently imports approx 12 Billion KwH’s from France each year.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-T-Z/United-Kingdom/
Imagine how this scaling back of reliable French nuke electricy is going to effect their export customers.
The UK really better get is power generator house in order.”
Save energy says-
Ed (dickhead) Davey the UKs Energy and Climate Change Secretary, has cunning plans to keep the lights on…pay industry to stop work – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26819050
& big dirty diesels to backup his ‘green clean’ wind & solar – Short Term Operating Reserve STOR. – http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/the-insane-cost-of-ed-daveys-green-energy-policy/
Gore’s “frightening new math” in the Rolling Stone article is indeed frightening. His statement that Germany is providing 37% of its electrical requirements from solar and wind is truly grotesque. The figures for 2012 from Frauenhofer are 8.4% for wind 5.3% for solar. Biomass (mainly wood) was more than either I think. Brown coal provided by far the largest share.
Interesting to see Hollande’s first mistress (and mother of his 3 kids) is back and cracking the whip. Maybe it is her revenge?
I am sure the wine industry will appreciate the drying effects of forests of windmills sure to be planted in the terroir.
some more detail:
18 June: Financial Times: France to set nuclear power cap
By Hugh Carnegy in Paris
Critics say the government is compromising a vital strategic asset that has allowed France to charge among the lowest prices in Europe for electricity.
But, under pressure from the left and its Green party allies, the government insists the country needs to rebalance its energy mix to boost its lagging performance in non-nuclear renewables and meet ambitious environmental targets…
The new law sets a limit on nuclear capacity at today’s level of 63.2 gigawatts. It avoided specific mention of a further election promise by Mr Hollande to close Fessenheim near the German border, the oldest of the existing 58 nuclear plants, by 2016…
But the cap will force a decision on closures as a new generation 1,630 megawatt European pressurised reactor at Flamanville in Normandy is due to come on stream in 2016, raising the overall capacity of the nuclear fleet…
A key engine of renewable output will be an increase in offshore wind power installation, currently due to contribute 3,000 megawatts by 2020 – equivalent to four nuclear plants…
Many reactors, built between the 1970s and early 1990s, are approaching their initial 40-year age limit.
This can be extended, but the cost of extending their life by 10 or 20 years is variously estimated at up to €100bn or more. But decommissioning costs are also high and the government faces a potential energy shortfall if plants are shut down prematurely.
EDF recently struck a deal with the UK to build two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point in England.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0ac6dc96-f6e4-11e3-8ed6-00144feabdc0.html
more soylent green! says, June 18, 2014 at 4:23 pm:
“Reduce energy consumption by 50%? Start by rationing. If they don’t produce enough electricity to meet demand, that will reduce consumption. Consumption will be reduced even more as the population either dies off or emigrates.”
What’s wrong with mandating *available* energy-efficiency improvements for energy-consuming products? Except that not many talk about this here, except in the negative when it came to incandescent lightbulbs. (We now have more efficient incandescent lightbulbs due to a law that was complained against for supposedly banning them outright, and these new incandescents now cost less in combined acquisition and operation cost than the ones they replaced.)
For example, most indicator lamp LEDs have 1/20 the energy efficiency of ones that cost only a couple cents more. .05-.1 watt per LED (and associated circuitry), multiplied by the billions glowing in USA alone, can take a power plant off the construction schedule by reducing demand – in a way that reduces the price of electricity. Many wallwarts could have been made to consume half a watt less with retail cost only a dollar or two higher. Many computer power supplies could have been made to consume 1-2 watts less when “off” and ~3 watts less when in use for a couple dollars more. Also, a manual automotive transmission controlled by a robot has much better urban fuel economy than a conventional automatic transmission.
I remember reading something about France and economic endeavors in December. They were near perfect.
Obviously the list needs updated now to reflect the new found perfectedness.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/12/france-in-review-perfect-track-record.html
And once they degrade the energy supply and economy enough, the muslim majority will take over.
Population of France, 65 million (2012).
Workforce, 29.62 million (2012 estimate), lets round up to 30 million.
Projected cost, 15 – 30 BILLION per year, which we all know is a low ball estimate, more like 60 billion. (I always double estimates on government projects)
Lets see how the French feel when they have an extra 1000 Euros taken from their yearly pay. What they will probably do is demand the employer pay it and go on strike when they balk at that idea. In which it will raise the cost of doing business in France.
But it’s for the children…
Doug says:
June 18, 2014 at 2:45 pm
Doug, you’re a bit slow – you could have acquired a whole village in 2012:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/9097639/French-village-for-sale-for-275000.html
Energy efficient homes and charging stations, brilliant! If only we had thought of it sooner…
Anthony says:
June 18, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Agenda 21 in all its glorious technicolour. Coming soon to a neighbourhood near you…
I suspect the next French President Marine LePen will put an end to this her first day in office.
[ note that is a different Anthony than the host of WUWT -mod]
http://fenbeagleblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/hanging-up-by-the-constables/
Little wonder – all the French with brains emigrated long ago.
Steve from Rockwood says:
June 18, 2014 at 3:41 pm
Steve: let’s be reasonable here. I don’t wish suffering on anyone. France has a long history — some glorious and some not, just like everyone else. We (Americans) should not disparage an entire country and culture because some part of their history is less than glorious. Given the current US administration, our reputation is going to pick up a fair amount of tarnish too.
On the other hand, I don’t believe in making sacrifices to protect others from the consequences of their own decisions. The new French energy direction as described above is silly (to be charitable, suicidal otherwise), but let’s give the French a chance to make their own corrections before casting stones. If we can’t bring our own teleprompter-impaired Narcissist-in-Chief to heel, we have no right to single out France for ridicule.
Mad as a box of – er – frogs!