Introduction
Germany’s recent energy debacle serves as a glaring testament to the dangers of delusional virtue signaling in the realm of energy policy. As the nation grapples with the consequences of its ill-conceived “Energiewende” transition, observers might be forgiven for experiencing a touch of schadenfreude. After all, the pitfalls of such a hasty and unpragmatic shift were evident to many from the outset.
Germany’s Self-Inflicted Energy Wound
The AP News article paints a grim picture of Germany’s self-inflicted energy predicament:
“Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is finding itself unusually vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather, the changing priorities of its main gas supplier, Russia, and the ups and downs of electricity from wind and solar.”
https://apnews.com/article/germany-economy-energy-crisis-russia-8a00eebbfab3f20c5c66b1cd85ae84ed
The nation’s hasty transition away from reliable energy sources, driven by collective alarmist groupthink, has left it exposed to the whims of nature and geopolitics.
The Russian Gas Dependency
Germany’s misguided energy strategy has ensnared it in a web of dependency on Russian gas:
“Germany gets about a third of its gas from Russia, which recently has been sending only limited supplies to Europe, driving up prices.”
https://apnews.com/article/germany-economy-energy-crisis-russia-8a00eebbfab3f20c5c66b1cd85ae84ed
This reliance, coupled with Russia’s recent maneuvers, has placed Germany in a precarious position, a situation that could have been avoided with a more balanced and pragmatic energy approach.
The Fallacy of Green Ambitions
Germany’s delusional push towards renewable energy sources has been nothing short of a masterclass in how not to approach energy policy:
“Germany’s decision to phase out both nuclear power and coal by 2038 has made it more dependent on gas for electricity generation, especially when the weather isn’t cooperating.”
https://apnews.com/article/germany-economy-energy-crisis-russia-8a00eebbfab3f20c5c66b1cd85ae84ed
The irony is inescapable. In its misguided bid to appease the altar of green energy, Germany has ironically tethered itself even more to fossil fuels. The intermittent nature of renewables, such as wind and solar, has only highlighted the folly of Germany’s energy decisions.
A Hearty Dose of Schadenfreude
For those who have consistently pointed out the inherent flaws in Germany’s energy transition, there’s a hearty dose of schadenfreude in witnessing the unfolding crisis. It serves as a stark reminder that energy policy should be rooted in reality, not swayed by popular but misguided narratives. Energy decisions, especially for a powerhouse like Germany, should be pragmatic, not driven by hypothetical fears and groupthink.
Conclusion
Germany’s energy quagmire offers a cautionary tale for the world. While some may be swayed by the siren song of renewable energy and alarmist rhetoric, it’s imperative to ensure energy security and stability. Over-reliance on any single energy source, especially a non-dispatchable, weather-dependent one, in the name of virtue signaling, is a perilous path. As Germany confronts its energy challenges, one can only hope that it serves as a lesson for other nations to prioritize pragmatism over popular but misguided narratives.
H/T John WG
Yes, same thing in the UK. Install more wind and burn more gas in less efficient plant (because of instant starting requirements).
The wind may be free. But the gas to use it isn’t.
Story Tip
Interesting recent development in the UK. The first step in backing off Net Zero happened yesterday in a speech by Rishi Sunak. To the fury of the Guardian and BBC. Reality is starting to bite.
https://www.netzerowatch.com/sunaks-net-zero-speech/
Edstone Miliband was literally frothing at the mouth on the Today programme, this morning – as was the entire corporation.
I swear some of Ed’s froth seeped out of the radio this morning 🙂
That was froth, he’s been watching AOC spout her climate doom and gloom
We need to save all our schadenfreude for ourselves so don’t give it all away to Germany WE in the UK are the next few carriages over the cliff in the Great European Train Crash followed by the Bideneejits in the US, The Trudeaucrats in Canada and the Aussies will yet again win the Ashes – of their economy
I almost felt sorry for him, but then I thought: his this jack’s Climate Act saddled a lot of people in the UK with debt and had them shiver in winter.
Ment as reply to strativarius..
Miliband is way past redemption, Ed
Some sense has entered the government’s energy policy – at last. Plenty more to come in the ucceeding months.
A smidgin perhaps , but a long way short of a modicum, The end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end but isn’t it great to see the greens sizzling like frogs in a frying pan.
From the last election
Ed Milliband thought he set the tone
With a suicide note on his own tombstone
Boris came along like a little hero
and stuffed it all up with his own Net Zero.
And its Earlye in the Morning, Earlye in the Morning
Before the Break of day etc
Send him a bacon sarnie!
Some of the crash dummies have just realised that they are crash dummies!
Correct about reality – however please do not underestimate the delusional Woke Ultra Far Left (“see what I did there?”) who have been emboldened over many many years – just clock the true extent of Woke debunking which goes back over a decade, the FCA whitewash report into Banking Cancel Kultur and their refusal to ( as yet ) “throw their Regulatory Handbook at Dame A. Rose who has ADMITTED breaking FCA regulations which have the force of law – these people are an existential threat to millions and the will come out fighting – I reckon some form of civil war beckons..
The Fieving Criminals Authority also confirmed yesterday that Train Robbers do not even consider robbing trains, based, soundly, on results from a questionnaire circulated to 1000 Train Robbers.
Auto
Wow! It is starting to look like Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Volkswagen vehicles will now be made in China. This lead me to look up the interpretation of “Schadenfreude”, which is “Epicaricacy” in English, which is herein interpreted as “I told you that you shouldn’t heat your nuts in a microwave, but you wouldn’t listen, and now your children look like Mr. Spock”.
To B5 fans, it translates to: Nobody listens to Zathrus.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow, there’s always a boom tomorrow.
No surprises then! This is exactly what WUWT, and a host of other science-based (theory/evidence) sites have been predicting for years while they are being progressively ignored, demonized, cancelled and expunged from public discourse by the media arm of the orthodoxy.
The irony is ridiculous! Here in South Africa we are selling high grade coal to Germany to burn in their coal plants that are being revived because their solar and wind plans are failing. The EU/US, on the other hand, is giving us funding as long as we only use it only for – solar and wind. Most amazing of all is that Germany is concurrently shutting its nuclear power stations – which produce no co2 at all -in fact they don’t produce any pollution either.
None of it makes any sense.
See “heat your nuts in a microwave” above.
Spock would regard the situation as fascinating and entirely illogical.
He might have thought it ‘interesting’.
You can never tell with these Vulcans….
He would be out of his Vulcan mind.
It does to Schwab, Soros and the likes of Bliar….
Germany is, quite frankly, what the west has made of it, post war. I don’t believe the UK is quite as far down the road and divisions are beginning to appear. The government is beginning to row back on the ‘green crap’ and this has caused many to bust a blood vessel.
“…what has he scrapped? Will it actually save the people of the UK any money? And what will it mean for the climate crisis? The Guardian has looked into each policy and what the change means.
Cars
Peter Chalkley, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said the changes would actually end up costing consumers more.
…
Delaying this policy will push up the cost of motoring as cheaper secondhand EVs that are much cheaper to run than petrol cars will be less available.”
Boilers
“The prime minister appears to have forgotten that the current cost of living crisis has been triggered by a huge increase in the price of natural gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the UK would have suffered less if it had moved more quickly to embrace clean electricity and clean alternatives to gas central heating.
Insulation
“…promised not to force homeowners into what he termed “expensive insulation upgrades”.
There had been plans to fine landlords who failed to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency, but these have now been dropped.
…
Chalkley said: “The one measure that would have brought down bills is the landlord energy efficiency rules.”
Behaviour change
“The proposal to make you change your diet and harm British farmers by taxing meat, or to create new taxes to discourage flying or going on holiday. I’ve scrapped those too.”
…
“It is clear that the single biggest change to diet to solve both the climate and biodiversity crises is to eat less meat.
The costs of not reaching net zero
[Bob] Ward said this weakening of policies could have “a disproportionately negative long-term impact on the UK economy”. “It could hurt economic growth by undermining domestic and overseas investment in a range of sectors that are developing and deploying clean technologies, such as heat pumps and electric vehicles,” he said.
…
[And my favourite…]
“Climate change will continue until we reach net zero globally.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/20/uk-net-zero-policies-scrapped-what-do-changes-mean
Think about that: “Climate change will continue until we reach net zero globally” As the alarmists might say themselves, that level of ignorance just blew me away. So if we can imagine the net zero world they would have us live in it will be a world with no climate change. Much like….
Ursa Minor Beta. This world has the quite peculiar property that most of its surface consists of subtropic coastline. Even more peculiar, on this world it’s always Saturday afternoon, just right before the beach bars close. (h/t D Adams)
The Green tendency in the UK never explain what good UK Net Zero will do. What effect it will have on the global climate. Even if you agree that
“Climate change will continue until we reach net zero globally.”
Its still pointless. Net Zero for the UK will have no effect on getting the world to Net Zero globally.
The most depressing thing about the press conference, well there were actually two depressing things, the first was the endless hand on heart pledges that Sunak really, really believes in getting to Net Zero. Yes, really. All he is doing is making the implementation a bit more sensible. Really!
The second thing was the immediate statement by Labour that they will reverse all this and revert to the original plan when they get in. That is, ban replacement oil boilers from 2026, ban ICE cars from 2030, ban even hybrids from 2035, ban replacement gas boilers (85% of homes) from 2035. These lunatics, with Ed Miliband as Energy and Climate Change Secretary, are headed for government in a year from now.
This is the party that thinks, along with the Liberals, SNP and Welsh nationalists, that some women have penises….
The real climate crisis in the UK is the abysmal summers we have to endure.
Every summer since 1976 has been a wee bit abysmal.Is it Global boiling or just me getting old . Time to boil a green frog
I know some women who are just as macho and aggressive as any man- so I’m wondering too. 🙂
LOLa.
“Climate Intelligence Unit,”
They need to re-think their name.
Drop the “intelligence part”… cos they ain’t got any !!
These clowns are totally clueless, and utterly brain-washed. !
Unless the Intelligence term refers to those actually running this under Comrade Commissar Dowden…
“cheaper secondhand EVs”
They’ll be cheaper because nobody will want them!
It’s well known that Toyota ICE vehicles hold their value in the second hand market. And that company seems in no hurry to go EV.
“ cheaper secondhand EVs that are much cheaper to run than petrol cars will be less available.””
That’s word salad.
Secondhand EVs are cheap because of the cost of replacing the battery. It’s true that they are cheaper to run than petrol cars, but only until the next re-fill. That’s when the EV is suddenly ?50 times more expensive.
I’m sure they’re still…. available, Mike.
The claim is also false. Electricity at home, maybe, but probably for not much longer. Away from home it is more expensive than petrol per mile, and has yet to have duty added at the proper rate to support the infrastructure of roads. Perhaps electric vehicles will run on fully demolished roads because of lack of repair, but I doubt it.
Electric vehicles are heavier than ICE vehicles, so they are going to tear up those same roads, faster.
And given that EV batteries are subject to “bump” damage, that makes things even worse. !
Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover were in favour of Sunak’s rollback. Ford, not so much. Interesting split.
Bob Ward is a frothing at the mouth ecofascist funded by Jeremy Grantham in another of example of rich people funding things to make poor people poorer in contrast to how they used to be beneficent back in say Victorian times.
Everything Chalkley says is not true as everything green is more expensive and worse. Second hand battery car are currently very cheap as nobody wants them which means massive depreciation for those who bought them, even though the vast majority are not bought by individuals but companies. As to being cheaper to run, that debatable especially if you factor in how much time you would waste on a journey charging. Tyre use is higher, as are brakes but of course the killer is when you need a new battery which basically renders the car scrap – you couldn’t even sell it for banger racing due to the risk of fire and explosion. Gas is still the cheapest fuel for heating and needs no massive spending on the grid to deliver more electricity. We could just frack to get more gas as well. And if it stops spending – wasting money – on stupid clean energy etc. then it could be used productively.
Germans – I don’t know if there is something in their water or psyche, but they tend to be attracted to, and lead by, extremists.
Please elaborate on “Germany is, quite frankly, what the west has made of it, post war.”
Germany is part of the West, or at least most of Germany was, postwar.
Germany’s energy policy looks a lot like California’s. The biggest difference is that California has been pursuing deindustrialization much longer. California also just sued fossil energy companies that the supply Natural gas which is used to generate more than 40% of their electricity but still reopened their a natural gas storage facility that had sprung major leaks a few years ago. Imagine if the companies being sued shut off the flow of gas as a good faith effort to limit climate change in the state.
It seems that the Nord Stream pipeline explosion might have been the single largest manmade release of methane.
So what?
Terrible waste of a good pipeline and lots of gas.
Good job it was underwater, then.
The pipeline was unused at the time. There may have been gas in it, but there wasn’t any gas flowing through it.
The leak was estimated to be about 23,000 kg/hour for about 4 days. According to Reuters making it the largest or near the largest single manmade release of natural gas.
The German state does nothing of importance without the permission and direction of the US government.
Do you have any evidence of that, or is that just what the voices in your head tell you to believe?
Bullspit!
Ridiculous idea – Germany is perfectly capable of screwing up its own economy and standard of living without any help or direction from other countries.
In that case, California simply would immediately take over the energy companies operations….it would give the bureaucrats exactly what they want…total control…that’s why supply companies don’t do it.
O/T – appo-logeys for that. The other day I asked if anybody has seen Marianna Spring post CV revelations
This is an excellent short vid
The BBC’s misinformation merchantTom Slater exposes the falsehoods of the BBC’s Marianna Spring.
Does anyone seriously think northern Europe is to hot?.is that because we only have to heat our homes for 10 months per year.
To play Devil’s advocate:
As someone that grew up in New England houses that had no air conditioning, just a few degrees can make a vast difference in the number of days per year that you would really want air conditioning. And adding A/C to a house that doesn’t have any ductwork is a huge expense.
Reality Bites
At the link under the photo of a power plant above, that site has many photos including the one I attached showing a wind turbine behind a shut down nuke plant. A great way to show the absurdity of Germany’s energy policies.
The Human-caused Climate Change Hoax is destroying Germany right before our eyes. Irrepairable damage has probably already been done to the German economy.
Unfortunately, Germany is not alone. There are a number of nations and States that are closely following the German example because of the demonization of CO2.
How far will German citizens allow their foolish politicians to go? Will it take the total destruction of the German economy before people wake up?
There is no evidence that CO2 is anything other than a benign gas, essential for life on Earth.
Yet foolish and/or conniving politicians are acting like it is the greatest danger ever to face humankind. There is no evidence this is the case, yet they relentlessly trash their economies trying to reduce CO2 output.
The dishonest people who bastardized the global temperature record have a lot of blood on their hands. What we see in Germany is a consequence of the Climategate Charlatans lies about CO2 and the Earth’s climate.
Not forgetting: it was Germany that cut itself off from Russian gas, not Russia. And it was Germany that told us it didn’t need Russian gas anyway as soon it would be awash with liquified gas from… somewhere, not specified.
““Germany gets about a third of its gas from Russia, which recently has been sending only limited supplies to Europe, driving up prices.””
Because, Russia has had to switch to liquified gas for Europe, and since previously it piped its gas, it didn’t have sufficient capability to increase production of liquid gas to replace piped gas. That situation is being rectified and liquid gas output is increasing.
It is tempting to accuse the German Government of incompetence, but I don’t buy it – it’s evil intent.
From the first AP linked article in the head posting:
“These outside shocks [high gas costs from Ukraine war and China’s economic slowdown] have exposed cracks in Germany’s foundation that were ignored during years of success, including lagging use of digital technology in government and business and a lengthy process to get badly needed renewable energy projects approved.”
Badly needed? A little editorial commentary AP? Apparently, Germany and the news media like the AP still believe that wind and solar can play a large role in meeting their electricity needs. Oh, the perils of illiteracy in science and engineering.
**************
and….
“The company is shifting away from the plant — whose 40-story smokestack fuels production of plastics and other goods — to two gas-fired generators that can later run on hydrogen amid plans to become carbon neutral by 2030.”
**********
Best of luck to Germany trying to deal with the leakage problem of hydrogen. And it still burns invisibly when ignited.
It always surprises me, whenever I work in Germany, that their internet speeds are so slow compared with the UK. And that the whole e-commerce thing seems to be behind the times because of it.
“badly needed” by wind and solar investors (e.g., China which sells a lot of that junk).
MONEY.
The root of many kinds of evil.
Now they are getting more of the normal power usage from outside Germany . The growing % of renewables in the generation total is because Germany is 10% down in its own production- mostly base load , which could be coming from coal power stations in coal rich Poland
Germany has been governed by a hostile regime for almost two decades. Before that it was simply a corrupt regime btw. What I find funny are the parallels between Russian and German propaganda these days.
Russia:
The Russian regime calls out a fight against “nazis” in Ukraine. For that purpose Russians got mobilized under the “Z” swastika to commit genozide on the (non existing) Ukrainian people. The “fight against nazis” justifies anything.
Naturally one would consider this Kremlin policy of facism and genocide extreme and one would expect dissenting and moderating voices. These voices however were silenced, as they are all “nazis” or “foreign agents”. Instead the only thing getting aired is a “civil society” demanding even more extreme policies, like going nuclear, war against NATO, or the slaughter of Ukrainian children. Bottom line: the Kremlin is not doing enough.
Germany:
The regime has long ago called out the “Kampf gegen rechts”, a fight against the right. The irony is in Merkel ruling the conservative, thus moderate right party. So she was actually fighting her own party, and that is what she did! The “fight against nazis” justifies anything.
The extreme agendas of the German regime (unrestricted migration, social benefits for migrants but not for Germans, prohibitivly high taxes and even more expensive energy) could be considered genocidal. Any opposition however is being silenced, cause they are all “nazis” and “Klimaleugner”. Insdead the media are constantly presenting a “civil society” demanding even harsher policies – more unrestricted migration and instant abandoning of fossil fuels. Bottom line: the Berlin is not doing enough.
Germans are instilled with an anti-fascist ideology from a very early age; German laws and culture are firmly against a repetition of their past and they will call out extreme right-wing or fascist behaviour.
By about 2015-16 there were several hundred German’s (from both the east and west of Germany) in Ukraine’s Donbas region fighting against the Ukraine Government forces.
There are significant geopolitical consequences the will result from Germany’s failed Energiewende program.
When Germany finally gets around to dropping the policy altogether—inevitable, but not likely to happen within the next three years due to entrenched powers and the meme of “We’re the mighty Germany, heil, and we’ll show the world we can make this work” and the reversal only being forced as Germany is threatened with second-class economic status in the world—the nation will have to reach out for economic help.
Assuming the USA does not launch the equivalent of a $multi-trillion WWII-style lend-lease program, this time focused on supplying fossil-fuels to the nation, Germany will then have to reach out to either Russia or China to supply their critical energy needs in order to keep their population from rioting in the streets.
Once possible chained consequence would be Germany withdrawing from NATO as part of the deal . . . that being very satisfactory to Russia and/or China.
People seem to have forgotten that Merkel shafted the EU by brokering a deal with Putin’s Mafiosi to supply gas – and it was not until an internal report by the saner part of the EU surfaced, after being sat on, in 2015 that non germanic Europhiles had been screwed into paying a much higher price than Frau Merkel…( “for protection, Tovaritch”).
The Germans, like the British, in the main are too comfortable to react violently to the Woke Ultra Far Left and their anti everything policies; I do not buy that Germans support the Greens in reality. Germans are the most hypocritical when it comes to “green” or “sustainable” – you cans for yourself by driving for a few days on their autobahns. Net Zero is going to change all that and the signs are beginning to show in the former East Germany that they have had enough. If it gets ugly, it will be REAL ugly…IMHO.
All part of the plan and its’ working just the way the Marxists envisioned it. Deny energy to industry and you cripple Capitalism. Proof that another ‘conspiracy theory’ is true.
You are aware that it is right-wing governments and businesses that are pushing renewables, aren’t you?
There could be left-wing green policies. Subsidising free bus passes for everyone would be one. Also quite expensive but would actually work. Yet left-wing green policies are not being adopted.
Paying landowners and large corporations to install intermittent industrial complexes (with roads that could eventually lead to housing) is the policy that’s adopted.
That is clearly in favour of the right wing; the established wealth.
As should be expected for right-wing parties like the CDU and Conservatives. Looking after their own.
That’s only true if you believe that everyone who isn’t communist, is a right winger.
Says the man who thinks everyone who is not a republican is a communist……..
“You are aware that it is right-wing governments and businesses that are pushing renewables, aren’t you?” Only the useful idiots and those that are threatened, and there are plenty of them. And those useful idiots have not clue about the ramifications of removing fossil fuels from our lives.
Reality begins to bite.
Germany is a perfect example of the ignorance of progressive ideology. A prosperous country brought to it’s knees by experts and professionals. In the real world big wind and solar would never have been an issue because they are failures from the get go. Only a brain dead progressive government can keep them going and that isn’t working either. Shameful ignorance.
It shows when the left testifies be it agency heads or experts in US Congress , European parliaments or just commenting here on WUWT- that they live in a different “ reality”. Sometimes it is just corruption purposely trying to evade the issue; but in some cases I am just stunned how a persons mind can be so bent even in the face of new credible evidence on a subject.
And the general public? Most of them do very little serious investigation. I firmly believe things will have to collapse to some degree before things have any chance of getting better. There has been more than enough time for people to catch on- and they have not. So once again the lesson will have to be learned the “ hard way”.
I have switched to “ preparation” . I’m not wasting anymore time being hopeful.
STORY TIP
looks like france may have a problem too
https://www.sott.net/article/484583-So-much-for-the-Greens-France-betting-on-coal-to-ensure-winter-power-supply