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.
get the Full story
I predict by 2050 ITER in France will be in operation. The French will change their energy mix to 50% nuclear fission and 50% nuclear fusion. Renewables will be their standby generators.
“Affordable energy in ample quantities is the lifeblood of the industrial societies and a prerequisite for the economic development of the others.” — John P. Holdren, Science Adviser to President Obama. Published in Science 9 February 2001
John says:
June 18, 2014 at 4:12 pm
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I was with you until Margarine, and you forgot Mayonnaise. Double ugh.
It will take people dying and degradation of life style from lack of economical energy before “people” take a hard look at AGW. Right now it’s ‘cool’ to save the planet. Never underestimate the effect of unintended consequences to quickly change opinion.
So the French economy hasn’t tanked enough? The transition from stable cheap reliable concentrated energy sources to expensive intermittent and disperse ones is going to do the trick.
From Victoria on June 18, 2014 at 2:03 pm:
Have you never had French Onion Soup?
dipchip says:
June 18, 2014 at 3:52 pm
The grid does not run on average power. It runs on instantaneous power.
When no one understood the grid the objective was the lowering of electrical power costs as a boon to mankind.
Now people THINK they understand the grid and they want to raise electrical prices as a bane to mankind.
“Steamboat Jack says:
June 18, 2014 at 8:14 pm
…from a culture that used the bidet.”
And when the Versailles palace great hall was built it was, effectively, used as a toilet. I am glad times have changed in 200 years.
“T-Bird says:
June 18, 2014 at 8:16 pm
…Louisiana, are both French derived.”
Yes, but it was a “con-man” who managed to sell Louisiana, sight unseen, to “investors”.
The decline of France stared after Waterloo and hasn’t stopped.
The frogs are not that silly. This has to be pressure under UN Agenda 21.
The French PM and key officials may have been promised great positions once the installation of Agenda 21 is complete.
Whatever it is, the normal Joe Blow on the street will suffer.
Cheers Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com (My Agenda 21 blog)
“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.”
“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.”
As France is already in dire financial circumstances with a high rate of unemployment throwing that sort of money down the toilet will certainly cut energy use by 50%
The American people will never accept a human carbon unit tax on the CO2 they produce. It’s just too stupid a concept.
“seeks to make France a greener country and reduce the nation’s energy bill.”
Wish they would make up their minds.
“SandyInLimousin says:
June 18, 2014 at 11:42 pm”
True. Apparently the city of Paris cannot afford to keep street lights on at night.
I really don’t worry about anything the socialists here in my home country of France say they are going to do. For two reasons. Firstly, they are utterly incompetent, and second, in just under two years there will be a right wing (well for France) government who will chuck everything in the bin that the previous government has done. Incidentally the current socialist regime is the most unpopular government in living memory.
@ur momisugly Max 2:04. You might be interested to hear a little epigram we have over here on this side of the pond: it’s this –
With friends like Americans, you have no need of enemies.
Think on that.
@Bertram Felden – The saying has crossed the pond, unfortunately.
Patrick says:
June 18, 2014 at 11:52 pm
True. Apparently the city of Paris cannot afford to keep street lights on at night.
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That’s certainly not true of the area around the 11th and 12th Arondissements where my daughter lives.
Polite advice to Max Hugoson: please don’t shout! To my mind, it makes you look like an out-of-cotrol ranter at a meeting. Usually I just skip comments which include chunks of capitals because time is precious.
If the argument or pertinent observation isn’t persuasive in lowecase then it’s hardly going to be improved by putting it in uppercase.
I live in France, and confirm that Hollande and his socialist cronies are totally bonkers, and loathed almost universally. The sooner Marine le Pen kicks them ALL into touch, the better for all of us. The country is going from bad to worse. Why is it that most of our so-called “leaders” in the west are hell-bent upon destroying their own civilisations? Perhaps, deep down, they want an Islamic world, and are preparing the ground.
My God, I’m glad that I have reached the back end of my life and won’t have to witness the oncoming catastrophe. My condolences to those that will.
Bertram Felden June 18th 11:52pm:
…a little epigram we have over here on this side of the pond: “With friends like Americans, you have no need of enemies.”
I have never ever heard that deplorable expression before, despite living and working most of my life in various parts of my native UK, but also working in the Netherlands and living for four years in France. I suspect that it’s one you made up yourself.
The French whore monger’s plan to tax salaries above 1 million euros at 75 percent for two years did not work. http://taxfoundation.org/blog/france-s-75-percent-tax-rate-offers-lesson-revenue-estimating
Reducing nuclear generated electricity from 75% down to 50% informs me that he has a problem with three quarters of anything. That’s because he is only three quarters of a man; the jumped up, short rsole, with more blubber around his champagne socialist gut than a whale.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2171950/Francois-Hollande-mocked-French-looking-like-dwarf-posing-Coldstream-Guards-London.html
Off with his head!
“SandyInLimousin”
Also in the Limousin – where are you?
The French economy is in the toilet: unemployment is nearly 3.5 million; taxation levels are driving wealth creators away; the percentage of GDP accounted for by government spending is now over 57%; the public deficit is at 4.3%, against an EU-mandated level of 3% by 2015; and productivity, compared to the rest of Europe, is poor and declining.
So it will be interesting to see how they can simultaneously reduce the government deficit, reduce unemployment and spend c €15m – €30m each year on its aim to cut the country’s final energy consumption in half by 2050.
One thing’s for certain – it won’t happen! The French have a propensity to take to the streets whenever things don’t go the way they want. They also have a presidential election in 2 years time and, whilst I’m not at all sure that Marine Le Pen’s FN party will win (thus making her President), they will certainly have a large presence in parliament. It seems likely, at least at the moment, that this crazy plan will not survive for long.
I have been writing about this for about 2 years. The french government have a grave problem. 22 of their nucléare central will be obsolete (out or operational time) in the next ten years. Fessenheim is already over time but is being kept alive until 2016. In the meantime, the socialists have taken away the rights of the french citoyen to object, protest against wind turbines and green energy.
So do the government build several new nucléare, as in the UK, or do they go green? If they want to stay in power they have to go green because the greens hold the balance of power. Hollande has about 2 years left when he will be thrown out and another year after that his goverment will be thrown out. They will run out of money long before they finish this project. They have a pledge registered with the EUSSR to reduce their budget deficit to 3% by 2016. They can only do that by raising taxes which will further cripple our economy and Hollande has had to promise tax cuts already in his attempt to become popular (it’s a standard presidential thing to do in france when you are in the merde). If you think about that within a european economy, which like the socialist USA’s, will stagnate, the outlook is not good. Sometimes you have to have revolution to evolve.
I have read many objectional and appallingly ill-informed comments here. As in most of europe we have a voting system of proportional representation which makes it difficult to change anything and in the EU it’s worse with 700+ parlimentarians and I don’t know how many commissioners (and I doubt that anyone else knows), making any decisions rests solely with the president of the commission. It is a dictatorship, but sometimes it’s easier to change a dictatorship than a democracy. There is only one person to guillotine
I am sick of ill-informed Brits and others calling the french people cowards and yellow. If you have never been invaded keep your foul mouths closed and your pens still.
What would you do if an invading army chose two of your medium sized towns and slaughtered all the men, women and children. Hung the men from lamposts and balconies in front of everyone, including their children. Burned your houses to the ground. In WW1 every village and town in france lost more than half their men only to be followed 11 years later by WW2 when they lost the remaining men and still the old an infirmed fought on in the resistance.
This is why I become very offensive to our government paid climate liars with their attempts to destroy our economies and our poor and elderly.
BETTS that’s why I hate you. Compris ?
Stephen RICHARDS
Conseiller Municipale ancien.
Amazingly, the French political elites were able to figure out cheap, clean, unlimited, efficient, sustainable, reliable, high-energy density, and safe nuclear energy was a good idea, and miraculously built their electrical grid on this bloody obvious fact…
This was De Gaulle (pronouced De goal, incidently). He drove this farsighted policy and yes it was the only thing he did that was worthy.
It will cost them their economy! Simple.