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
30 billion euros a year for decades? Like that’s going to happen. In the UK there’s been huge controversy and push back over spending about £70 billion on HS2, but that spread over 15 years!
Look, I was in France recently, and the French seemed like fairly intelligent people with normal appetites for enjoyment of life. The distinction between the citizenry and the hypocritical lunatics in charge could not be greater. Remind me again, how many republics has France gone through so far?
GE is pushing hard for renewables in VFrance.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/ge-ceo-to-hold-meeting-with-french-minister-on-alstom-deal-1403097740
General Electric Co. GE +0.07% Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt is set to meet French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg in Paris on Thursday, the third time the executive has visited the City of Light since GE launched its $17 billion bid for the French engineering firm’s business in late April.
His mission: to derail the French government’s interest in a competing offer from Germany’s Siemens AG SIE.XE +0.85% and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. 7011.TO +1.43% before it gathers too much momentum.
Mr. Immelt is expected to make a series of concessions, according to people familiar with the matter, giving the government a say in the fate of Alstom products that Paris deems strategic, such as the oversize steam turbines used in nuclear-power plants.
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Obama’s job czar will show them….
I live in France for good reasons. The people are not stupid. The politicians are. The people are quite happy to guillotine the occasional politician, physically or metaphorically. Hollande like Obarmy needs a “big idea” to save his arse. He has the Climate Jamboree coming up in Paris and wants to put himself on the world stage front and centre. He will be out on his fat little ear in a couple of years, even Julie Gayet cannot save him. Sarkosy is waiting in the wings, he thinks like Napoleon and waits like Napoleon. The socialists have created the worst economy in France for a generation and the people are beginning to squeal. The problem with electricity is the same as in all EU nations, a complete lack of foresight and investment. The Nucs are old and dated and need replacing. The socialists are twisting and turning trying not to be the ones who have to do it. Luckily for them in 2017 they won’t be .
“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.”
And ze gouvernment will rebuild ze Maginot Line!
Lest anyone think I am insulting the French above, please consider the following.
My great-uncle is buried in France, killed in battle in 1918 in the very last weeks of WW1.
My uncle survived the Dieppe raid in 1942 during WW2 – the only officer of his regiment still alive at noon that day.
My French friends, our family and our friends did not shed our blood for you just so your could fall on your own swords.
Wind power simply does not work economically or effectively – it is too intermittent and too diffuse and we published these conclusions more than a decade ago.
The Germans and the Brits have since spent billions and proved that we were correct – danke, thank you.
Now the French are going to sacrifice the wellbeing of their citizens to the same energy folly.
L’énergie éolienne – il ne fait pas que souffler, ça craint! (Wind power – it doesn’t just blow, it sucks!)
Adieu!
France chose nuclear power for its nationalized power industry rather than high-priced imported oil or relying on other countries for natural gas. France has, in the intervening years, increased its power prices to about double that of the US, subsidized its power prices, reluctantly privatized only a portion of the electric industry, developed nuclear technology that it desperately subsidizes to sell to other countries, exports low-balled subsidized power to neighboring countries in an attempt to maintain high nuclear plant operating rates, and recently was the object of an investigation for anti-trust by the EU related to power prices. The investigation showed anti-trust activities did occur. Clearly, following France in nuclear is not the way to go. After 50 or more years, no other country has as much nuclear power as does France.
Q. E. D.
The truth about France’s nuclear power industry: see
http://sowellslawblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-truth-about-nuclear-power-part.html
It is the people that can least afford these massive energy price increases that are hurt the most.
Energy poor its been called.
Those very same people make up the silent majority of those countrys.
These hypocritical “ruling elite” do nothing but stoke the anger.
That comes with total helplessness to stop what their elected representatives are doing to them.
When the socialist governments are unceremoniously dumped and the people get little if any financial respite from the new government.
Then pressure builds.
At the next election and faced with prospect of returning to another socialist government, the root of their problem.
The proverbial will hit the fan.
It will not be long till the peoples of one of these “civilized” countrys violently kick back against one of these socialist governments.
Who will it be first, Cananda, Australia or maybe England or America.
It will happen, gauranted.
Simply because these socialists have dropped all their eggs in the one basket.
The basket case that is the fraud of global warming.
And as we see over the blogasphere, there is a little piece of that fraud exposed every day.
“estimate it will cost the country between 15 and 30 billion euros in investments every year until the so-called “energy transition” is completed.”
A low end estimate!? Those goverment folks are always kidding around, what a bunch of pranksters!
a 50% reduction in energy usage would imply that France is intending that future elected governments live in a “dark age” whilst they live it up on their 75% tax take. – a conveniant plan to lock in hard times for the next elected government – sounds like the greens in OZ!
Meanwhile the French state-controlled nuclear energy contractor is building super-sized nuclear plants in China and warships for Russia. Never underestimate the French contradictions in the hunt for money.
The other thing France always had right was termed as “the French Paradox”. How could these people eat so much butter fat and consume so much wine, yet still have low cases of heart disease. I think the next goal of the eco-fascists will be the French diet, as it already happened elsewhere.
First they came for the nuclear. Then they came for the delicious animal fat and wine. And with that, they were able to remove all soul and humour. (I may be gravely biased, but it seems that eco/activist/vegan-types have an acute lack of humour and self-deprecation, coupled with a maniacal need to control others).
The other thing France always had right was termed as “the French Paradox”. How could these people eat so much butter fat and consume so much wine, yet still have low cases of heart disease. I think the next goal of the eco-fascists will be the French diet, as it already happened elsewhere.
First they came for the nuclear. Then they came for the delicious animal fat and wine. And with that, they were able to remove all soul and humour. (I may be gravely biased, but it seems that eco/activist/vegan-types have an acute lack of humour and self-deprecation, coupled with a maniacal need to control others).
From Roger Sowell on June 19, 2014 at 4:59 am:
Exactly. France is definitely socialist. They have labor encumbrances the US does not such as shorter workdays and workweeks, excessive vacation. Numerous other government benefits that are subtly paid for in quiet excessive taxation, recent news has shown the fiscal desperation is leading to making it less subtle and quiet. Their electricity infrastructure is still largely nationalized, and Americans well know how well permanently entrenched government organizations and employees perform compared to private sector counterparts subject to quick dismissal.
And now as the French model of “civilized socialism” is carried along for the long trudge to history’s dustbin, they jerk and twitch the limbs to give it a semblance of life for the onlookers, and pretend their nuclear industry is still robust and healthy by manipulating their pricing with subsidies.
Clearly, following the French model of faux capitalism for the growing nuclear industry we will need in the coming decades will obviously be a major fault. That they were able to hold the electricity costs to only about double that of the US is surely testament to the inherent efficiency of nuclear energy. By European norms, it’s still cheap at twice the cost!
I suggest the French elected rulers read Bastiat. Best or second best person to come from France.
Like it or not the majority in Europe have Green on the Brain and want to shut down nuclear. I say: give the people what they want. Let them learn the consequences by trial and error. In the process they may become object-lessons for the rest of the world.
Amen John. If one got their impression of France from a brief visit to Paris, I could almost understand. Paris, like NYC, can be a great place. Centers of culture, cuisine, and entertainment – both cities are a delight if you’ve got tons of money. Another thing they have in common is that the local residents seem to have elevated being rude to an art form.
Get at least 50km outside of Paris and France is a great country populated by pleasant and interesting people.
seeks to make France a greener country and reduce the nation’s energy bill.
That last part is SO not going to happen.
Al Bundy was once in Great Britain speaking in the public square when the following exchange occurred:
=====================================
Al: “Am I the only one here who hates the French?”
::crowd roars with approval::
Al:”I thought not.”
====================================
Nuclear power is one of the things that France had done right and now they’re getting ready to stop? Eesh. That reminds of of the old albinoblacksheep webpage that would show up if you entered “french military victories” and clicked “I’m feeling lucky” in Google’s search engine:
“No results found. Did you mean french military defeats?”
This bill will never pass in a million years…and even if it does it will be so watered down as to be meaningless. Not really sure what the point of this article or the comments are.
This bill will never pass in a million years. The nuclear lobby and their Union allies are too strong and Hollande has no political capital to blow…or money to blow on this project. The article mentions that in the last paragraph but it almost gives the impression, and the comments suggest that it did, that this is already a law. It is a joke. Anybody worried this is going to impact anything in France is dreaming.
Dear: Stephen RICHARDS Conseiller Municipale .. I do apologize for my “single sided” condemnation of all things French. You have rightly noted some of the suffering you have gone through. It does occur to me, however, as a student of history..that perhaps, considering Napoleon’s invasion of Russia (War of 1812), where he started with almost 500,000 men, and returned with under 50,000 men, perhaps the French are their own worst enemy. And when it comes to the corner on “cowardice”, I would say…without hesitation, that allowing Mssr. Boneapart to be poisoned with Arsenic, by his British Colonel “friend”, rather than executing him outright…well, it’s hard to be that for a matter of cowardice! Can I be allowed to be roundly frustrated in life? My name comes from the officer in the (Royal) French Army, who hot footed his way to Smoleland Sweden, in 1792, rather than lose his head over politics! I myself, left the “nuclear industry” in the USA, 10 plus years ago, as I realized it was dead and dying. I had great respect for FRANCE, obtaining 100% of their power from nuclear (on a rated base of 85%, because they began to use 18 month cores and shortened their outages to < 4 weeks by a very resonable "systems engineering" method) and having a schooled electorate, for whom going to the black board, in "first form" (or 7th grade, USA) and drawing out the complete nuclear power cycle, from ore to reprocessing, to waste vaulting…would be a trivial exercise. Thus, I must be much kinder to France and the "French" per see. It is obvious, they have missed the 200th aniversary of the Russian campaign, by a couple years. Yet, in total, they are planning on repeating the damage done 200 years ago. Perhaps its a way of eliminating the weak? (But Ne Pas, not true..it was the STRONG and the vital young men who were eliminated 200 years ago. Will it be the same now?) I still love all music by Saint Seanes, (Camille) ..however, this period of French life seems more as Berlious "Symphonie Fantastic", as our beloved turns out to be the leader of the "witches Sabboth".
Only the French could look to get rid of carbon free nuclear with carbon intensive wind turbines. Which are made and transported from China with actually polluting standards that ensure that you will ultimately increase the burning of fossil fuels.
Although I say that and all of our countries are engaged in this welfare for the rich.
Why all the hateful rhetoric? And has wuwt become some kind of death-wish promoter of nuclear power?
Some people, including me, can be AGW skeptics without spewing hatred against the French, the opponents of nukes, and supporters of-dare I say it-solar power?
In case you haven’t heard, nukes are killing people all over the place, and Fukushima is reportedly causing statistically huge increases in children’s thyroid cancer, right here on the West Coast of the USA!
Carbon bashing sucks, but so does bashing all the other stuff I see getting bashed here lately.
If the French economy slides then my summer holidays will get cheaper.
@ur momisugly Roger Sowell. So you are no fan of French nuclear power. What do you suggest they do for power then ? mine the coal they don’t have ?
Perhaps you think that importing coal is cheaper than running nuclear, but is it sensible, it certainly reduces energy security.
@save energy at 3:46 pm
Some facts & figs on French & UK grids, plus ‘Green energy’ figs & costs
[UK] Total Capacity = 23 GW
Bottom left and bottom center graphs of the GridWatch tell the story.
Wind in the UK is a seasonal operation. It peaks in the late fall-winter. It is becalmed late May-August with utilizations less than 10%. That is an enormous problem and a colossal waste of money.