Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Renewable energy companies are distressed that nobody in the Trump administration has called to offer them a share of Coronavirus economic stimulus cash.
Coronavirus could weaken climate change action and hit clean energy investment, researchers warn
PUBLISHED FRI, MAR 13 20202:32 PM EDTEmma Newburger@EMMA_NEWBURGER
- The coronavirus poses a serious threat to long-term climate change action by compromising global investments in clean energy and weakening industry environmental goals to reduce emissions.
- The International Energy Agency is urging governments to offer economic stimulus packages that invest in clean energy technologies.
- “If the lesson learned is, let’s get back to the status quo ante, then [the virus] probably will slow down the energy transition,” author and climate activist Bill McKibben told CNBC.
…
The International Energy Agency, or IEA, has warned the virus outbreak will likely undermine clean energy investment and is urging governments to offer economic stimulus packages that invest in clean energy technologies.
…
In the U.S., the Trump administration has considered providing assistance for hard-hit industries such as the cruise ships and airlines, as well as offering low-interest loans to oil and gas producers that have seen declines in oil prices — a move that would further lock in carbon-intensive investments.
“We have not yet seen similar offers for clean energy companies,” Lock said.
“If economic stimulus packages drive money away from clean energy investments by infusing fossil fuels industries with short-term capital while ignoring clean energy supply chains … we could see a domino effect that would push us further away from our clean energy goals,” she added.
…
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/13/coronavirus-could-weaken-climate-change-action-hit-clean-energy.html
HOW DARE THEY ™. How will the world cope if all the wind turbine and solar companies go bust?
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…don’t we buy most of that crap from China
At least the crap components, rare earths, etc. Much rather the Chinese put their efforts into keeping the medicines flowing.
And the components that are the vast majority of the cost of those pieces of junk.
There could just be an upside or silver lining to the Coronavirus crisis if it weakens useless climate change actions and hits the ‘clean’ energy market. It is likely that the wind turbine and solar companies will go bust anyway by their own action. People can istinguish a real problem from a fake one quite quickly. There is no sense in pouring good money after bad.
The clean energy market doesn’t need a cash infusion to remain solvent
1) They already get massive subsidies even when they produce no value
2) They have Political, Scientific and Media collusion on their side
In your point two you forgot the prefix pseudo- in front of the second entry.
Point well taken
And he forgot the prefix “Fake-news-” in front of the third entry 🙂
Hopefully they fail ASAP.
We would cope very well, indeed. It would save us a bundle!!!
From the article: “In the U.S., the Trump administration has considered providing assistance for hard-hit industries such as the cruise ships and airlines, as well as offering low-interest loans to oil and gas producers that have seen declines in oil prices — a move that would further lock in carbon-intensive investments.
“We have not yet seen similar offers for clean energy companies,” Lock said.”
And we better not see any offers made to the unreliable energy scam. Windmills and industrial Solar have nothing to do with the Wuhan virus. So why would you expect money from the taxpayers? Did the Wuhan virus cause the wind to stop blowing or the Sun to stop shining?
If our government had any sense, they would be eliminating the subsidies they pay to windmills and solar. Not only are the subsidies themselves a waste of money, they also lead to more wasting of money by increasing the cost of electricity for everyone.
It would be funny if it weren’t so ridiculous. I blame the Climategate Charlatans and their Spawn.
And we better not see any offers made to the unreliable energy scam.
Figuratively burning money on “renewable” energy will generate less energy than literally burning money. But at least with th former, the money will still exist, in a Swiss bank account probably.
The renewable pigs are jealous that there’s a trough their snouts aren’t in. But they’re not caught in the cross fire of two foreign countries trying to put them out of business, so they can SFU.
In the meantime, this just out of Israel which is a brilliant way to use technology to fight coronavirus, if my country were to do the same I’d be on this app in a heartbeat:
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-Israeli-app-to-notify-users-of-potential-coronavirus-exposure-620991
Not bad, but a proactive approach would be even better. What about easy access to the map on phones and computers, so one can check if it is sensible to visit aunt Berta tomorrow.
If Aunt Berta is over 60 or has any underlying conditions that make her vulnerable to serious impacts from covid-19, then you don’t need an app to know that you must call her on the phone rather than potentially infecting her by a visit at this time.
This virus is not dangerous to most people and many healthy people will be asymptomatic carriers. The moral imperative is to consider our impact on the vulnerable population.
I prefer the info from MIGAL about possible human trials with COVID-19 vaccine by next month .
Aren’t they happy about the prospect of a tanking economy or, better still, a dramatic decrease in the population?
That would be the life insurance business, as many of their long term illness clients disappear off the books.
Pension funds will also be relieved when their liabilities are reduced by this virus.
Life insurance pays when people die. The longer they live before dying, the more they pay in premiums. Life insurance does not benefit when a lot people die prematurely.
Pension funds, especially the largest one, Social Security do benefit when people die prematurely.
Medical insurance can also get less expensive when a lot of elderly die.
Unless you are proposing that pension funds and others are actively doing anything to promote the spread of this virus, I do not see the point you are trying to make.
I was thinking mainly about the “critical illness” cover that people used to be able to get that paid all the medical & nursing home fees for the remainder of the person’s life.
Such policies would be costing insurance companies an arm and a leg.
I remember them being pushed in the early 80s, I doubt that they’re still available.
Oh they still are. However you have to buy a policy before middle age and keep it active, otherwise, the costs go through the roof. Looking at my family history I have at least 30 years before I kick the bucket, but one of those extended care policies would cost me over a grand a month if I were to buy at my age.
Fredrick Michael,
Interesting you should mention the population thing.
Over here in Blighty, the Queens husband (Phil the Greek) is on record as saying he wished to return as a virulent virus to wipe out the “little” people (no not just the Irish) down to a s”sustainable” level of about 100 million.
Our poor Queen has her cross to bear having a deranged husband, son and now grandson all members of the global warming cult.
I wonder if old geriatric Phil has been over to Wuhan recently?
The elephant in the room: If renewable energy is everything it’s touted to be, why does it need subsidies?
^ this.
It’s just like with all the BS about power from renewables being cheaper than thermal generators – why are subsidies still needed for OPERATORS let alone investment?
Thank you!!! They neglected to consider the $5B+ per year in renewable subsidies.
So the panic about the Corona virus is threatening to cause the panic about global warming to run out of other people’s money burn?
Look for a claim (maybe even a “study”) showing that Global Warming has made the Corona virus worse.
To paraphrase Worf, “Corona is drink best served cold.”
I heard that Corona’s share of beer sales is down. One liquor store was offering a free roll of toilet paper for every case of Corona sale. I’d guess that they should increase the number of rolls in that offer.
That’s just being polite, considering what that beer does to the colon…
People talk about the bottom falling out of your world. When I lived in the UK, Hampshire, there was a brewery that made a nice beer called “Horndean Special Brew” (HSB). It was lovely. Problem is, when you drink too much of it the world falls out of your bottom. Trust me, I know form personal experience that this is true.
I downed a 12 pack of Corona to celebrate Friday the 13th (with lime of course) and on Saturday I had symptoms of Corona virus, lime disease, and/or a hangover!
Gunga Din wrote, “Look for a claim (maybe even a ‘study’) showing that Global Warming has made the Corona virus worse.”
Outbreaks of the flu & common cold generally spread in winter, and dwindle in summer. Wikipaganda says, “The [flu] season occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere.” I’ve seen speculation that NH spread of the coronavirus might be slowed by the onset of summer, too.
If the opposite were true, i.e., if flu and the common cold spread in warm seasons and dwindled in cold ones, you can be sure there’d be a steady stream of papers in Nature and Science, accompanied by EurkAlert press releases, and widespread “news” stories copied from the press releases, about “modeled” public health harms due to global warming causing increases in flu, with lurid predictions of how many millions of lives it is costing.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the papers and press releases about modeled public heath benefits of global warming. Bias in the academy and press are expressed as much by what doesn’t get published, as by what does.
“The International Energy Agency, or IEA, has warned the virus outbreak will likely undermine clean energy investment and is urging governments to offer economic stimulus packages that invest in clean energy technologies.”
These statements are green nonsense, because “clean energy” is not clean or green, and does not produce much useful (dispatchable) energy.
ALLAN MACRAE
Ah! But we’re continually assured that wind and Sun are free energy. And it’s getting cheaper all the time, which in itself is an oxymoron.
I’m not convinced these people know what they’re talking about. 🙂
The IEA is as politically influenced as the IPCC, unfortunately
Hello HotScot my friend,
It is minus 21C this morning in Calgary, too cold for civilized skiing. I used to jog at this temperature until I got a non-viral form of bronchitis – caused by deep inhalation of the cold air. Where the heck is global warming when you need it?
I have observed that when an individual or an organization maintains a proven false position for years or decades, they are incredibly incompetent and/or deeply corrupted. In the case of the IPCC and the IEA, I believe it is both.
No rational individual or group could be this stupid for this long.
Stay warm.
Best personal regards, Allan
HS: I love telling believers that oil is free – it’s just the process of turning it into an electric light that costs. Heads explode!
One should always point out to proponents of Wind and Solar that the countries with the largest proportion of “renewables” in their energy mix (eg Germany and Denmark) also have the highest cost of electricity per kWh.
In Germany at least high electricity prices are causing real economic distress.
Economic stimulus packages for green-energy companies would be what…sending money to solar panel manufacturers in China?
The stimulus packages are to support and protect American people, industries, and interests. Green energy is inconsequential with regard to those. It very well may be a detriment to them.
“clean” energy is a political myth.
Maybe to double dip in the renewable energy subsidy cesspool?
We have a Thunburg. Now we have Newburger. Is this one of those “free-from-animal-products” beefburgers? With onion?
So, we’ve gone from subsidizing infantile stupidity to subsidizing irrational panic.
Great.
Let’s see- maybe Corona virus is real, and “climate change ” we know is a fraud designed to displace the only successful system known to man with totalitarian government which has a 100% track record of failure and misery at the cost of all those not in the “Goodthink Ministry “. Maybe that’s why. Most people do know that unicorns aren’t real and neither is Mann made global warming, and when push comes to shove the silent working majority will have no choice but to rebel.
They did rebel and we have President Trump.
The Democrats have declared a climate emergency. I’m declaring a Democrat emergency. It is imperative for everyone to work hard for President Trump’s reelection or the results will be disastrous right now (not just a hundred years from now).
And to replace all the eco-freeks down ticket. If we don’t get rid of them the President can’t do anything.
They could be right,hopefully the “Free energy” scam will suffer.
For when people suffer a real touch from one of the four horsemen,they tend to get very real.
If our economy takes a hard hit from this pandemic,there will be no money and no charity toward the promoters of useless and unreliable energy schemes.
And for all involved in Gang Green,my total sympathy amounts to “So sad too bad”.
“The coronavirus poses a serious threat to long-term climate change action by compromising global investments in clean energy and weakening industry environmental goals to reduce emissions.”
NOW that’s silver lining!
Thanks to the Saudi and Russian instigated price war on oil and reduced consumption that can be expected due to travel restrictions, people working from home etc. I’d say there will be limited demand for sucky wind and solar power.
Don’t the Greens know that this Corona virus is more viral in cooler weather than warmer weather?
Bring on Global Warming please!
…ah, just like I thought. It really is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!
Virtue signaling is an intangible, so hard cash not necessary for it’s continuity. Humans pursuing economic activity can not survive on virtue alone, they need to be circulating money.
Oil, natural gas, and coal are clean and affordable energy sources. That is why they are being supported in this ‘black swan’ event.
In a time of fear, panic and a possible crisis for our civilization the members of Gang Green are worried that they might have to actually go to work and provide a service the public is willing to pay for. What kind of a diseased mind ignores the horrors taking placed around the globe and only worries about itself? A very, very, very small one!
The fanatic cult of Climatastrophe is incapable of stepping outside their fantasy world and dealing with reality; they need to be amputated from the body politic for the survival of Mankind! At least pare them back so that we can regain our ability to use Science for the advancement of our civilization beyond Earth!
Even in such a tough time, its nice to know that hand sanitizer is made from a oil product LOL..
Has any green group offered help for those in need? Has greta said anything, or is it the same old drivel about “give us money”
I was told that Mr Trump said, that the usa will be buying a lot of oil, enough to fill its reserves and then some, seems oil trumps wind and solar…
“Renewable energy companies are distressed that nobody in the Trump administration has called to offer them a share of Coronavirus economic stimulus cash.”
WR: In the Netherlands we have the strange construction of a ‘Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate’. At the 4th of March a message was published: “Billions for solar panels earlier available”. Source in Dutch: https://nos.nl/artikel/2325749-miljarden-voor-zonnepanelen-eerder-beschikbaar.html
Two billion euro of subsidies for solar panels that was planned to be paid out in the future was brought forward to be spend this spring. No euros for fighting the virus.
The Dutch Minister Wiebes (also for Economic Affairs) is always ‘very concerned’ about the environment….. Less about viruses.
The Dutch government still wants to keep the schools open. Today there will be an emergency meeting by the Cabinet because the Dutch Federation of Medical Specialists urged the government to close the schools. Many worried people want to keep their children at home but so far the Government resisted.
Yuck that’s really depressive, I missed that one. Then again I rather spend time here than at nos.nl
The Dutch government talks about a Climate CRISIS and about a Nitrogen CRISIS. But when there is a REAL crisis about this virus the Prime Minister says: ‘Let’s continue doing ‘normal’. And his Minister wants to spend billions on extra solar panels.
There will be more solar panels and fewer people in sunny Netherlands. Isn’t it a great ‘similar offer for clean energy’?
Lol “sunny Netherlands”