By Vijay Jayaraj
Europe stands as the self-proclaimed cathedral of the “green” transition. Bureaucrats in Brussels and politicians in Berlin have spent decades lecturing the world on the moral necessity to abandon hydrocarbons. They have constructed a narrative of the European Union as a shining city powered by the breeze and sun, modeling a net-zero utopia.
Yet, when the first real chill of winter settled over the continent this fall, that facade collapsed under the weight of physical reality.
Europe depends on fossil fuels for approximately 70% of its total energy consumption. This figure has remained stubbornly consistent over the years despite billions of euros spent on solar and wind infrastructure. The much-celebrated growth in those technologies masks a fundamental truth about energy systems that European policymakers refuse to acknowledge in public: Electricity accounts for only a fraction of total energy demand.
Transportation, heating, industrial processes and manufacturing continue to run overwhelmingly on oil, natural gas and coal. Highlighting additions in renewable power generation while ignoring the broader energy picture is like taking pride in a new front door while the rest of the house is in shambles
In late November, the fragility of a weather-dependent energy system went on display as temperatures dropped and the demand for space heating surged. This is a predictable feature of life in the Northern Hemisphere, yet European energy policy seems perpetually surprised by it.
Right when families needed heat the most, the wind refused to blow. This is the “Dunkelflaute” – the dark doldrums – about which engineers have warned for years. Wind generation plummeted by 20%.
Operators of the power grid, needing a backup source to avoid blackouts, turned not to batteries, which remain woefully inadequate for the job. Instead, they harnessed a workhorse of today’s energy systems: natural gas. Gas-fired generation surged by more than 40% to fill the void left by stalled wind turbines.
In the Netherlands, heating-degree days – a measure of demand for warmth – were 35% above the five-year average. Data from mid-November paints a damning picture of the failure of so-called renewables. Between November 14 – 21, as the first cold spell gripped the region, European gas demand skyrocketed by 45%.
In absolute terms, daily gas demand leaped by 0.6 billion cubic meters per day. This was not a gradual uptick. It was the panic-induced spike of a 75% increase in residential and commercial heating needs.
Gas storage sites were the unsung heroes of this drama, meeting approximately 90% of the jump in daily demand during a critical week. Withdrawals from storage facilities surged by nearly 450%.
The magnitude of this intervention by natural gas is difficult to overstate. To put the 0.6 billion cubic meters of gas into perspective, consider that the energy equivalent of that amount of gas is the daily output of 220 nuclear power plants – a number nearly five times the size of France’s entire nuclear fleet.
Imagine the catastrophe if Europe had achieved its net-zero goals and eliminated its gas infrastructure. There is no battery system on Earth, existing or planned, that could deploy the equivalent of 220 nuclear reactors.
Despite this frantic consumption of gas, prices have remained relatively stable. This was not due to European foresight. It was due to the “peace dividend” of potentially resolving the Ukraine conflict and, more importantly, a flood of liquefied natural gas from the United States.
Herein lies the supreme irony of the story: An anti-fossil fuel, anti-drilling European Union is keeping its population alive only because of a pro-fossil fuel, pro-human administration across the Atlantic. The United States, by encouraging hydrocarbon production, has created the surplus that now warms European homes.
Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of daily life, especially in advanced societies, which cannot run on the wishful thinking of wind and sun worshipers. The stability of European society today rests on the shoulders of American drillers of gas wells.
The European Union serves as a warning of what happens when ideology trumps physics. Climate mandates cannot make the wind blow. The “green” emperor has no clothes, and, baby, it’s cold outside.
This commentary was first published by Real Clear Markets on December 16, 2025.
Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.
not just physics, common sense too
not just physics, common sense too
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Common sense gets replaced by blind unquestioning faith and obedience. In Europe, it was unquestioning obedience to emperors and dictators in the last century. End result was two world wars.
Today, it’s the nondemocratic environmental movement on both sides of the Atlantic and its replacement of science and common sense with an ideological opposition to fossil fuels that demands to be embraced. Politicians (on the Left more so than on the right) all hop on board the bandwagon because political expediency demands it. And don’t ask questions. End result is the net zero campaign, the climate scare narrative and useless renewables.
Sadly, we humans seem to have some ways to go yet before our intellect rules the roost as much as it should. It’s tragic how often we have to learn things the hard way.
Vulcans we certainly aren’t.
I think the “hard way” is the only way some humans learn.
I think wind and solar was designed to fail.
Or designed to succeed – by “experts”. Same thing, I suppose.<g>
Purpose of scheme?
https://climatecite.com/u-n-official-admits-global-warming-agenda-is-really-about-destroying-capitalism/
If she destroys capitalism, governments will go broke and won’t make donations to the UNFCCC as well as to the IPCCC and the UN COP.
Where do you see free market capitalism in Europe? Everything is regulated. You can’t make a spoon without authorization from the United States of Europa.
And yes Europe is broke. Only money printing (inflation) keeps it afloat. They were so hostile to Trump because of his tariffs but do exactly the same to china to keep the european car industry from a complete collapse.They even will produce ICE cars for much longer than planed because of this and because the public does not want EV’s.
And what does europe produce? Everything is made in china. Without china Europeans would walk around naked. Most shipping containers go back to china empty.
And let’s not start to think about the billions of euros we do not have that go to ukraine (or turkey or africa etc etc).
And you can’t have free market capitalism without Freedom. Direct taxation and Freedom cannot coexist. Direct taxation means nothing is yours.
Take away the subsidies and mandates and it will totally collapse, because Wall Street will not invest, and insurance companies will not insure.
NEW MINE-MOUTH COAL ELECTRICITY LESS COSTLY, AVAILABLE NOW, NOT PIE IN THE SKY, LIKE EXPENSIVE FUSION AND SMALL MODULAR NUCLEAR
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/coal-electricity-less-costly-available-now-not-pie-in-the-sky
By Willem Post
It is very easy for coal to compete with wind and solar
In the US, Utilities are forced to buy offshore wind electricity for about 15 cents/kWh.
That price would have been 30 cents/kWh, if no 50% subsidies.
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Offshore wind full cost of electricity FCOE = 30 c/kWh + 11 c/kWh = 41 c/kWh, no subsidies
Offshore wind full cost of electricity FCOE = 15 c/kWh + 11 c/kWh = 26 c/kWh, 50% subsidies
The 11 c/kWh is for various measures required by wind and solar; power plant-to-landfill cost basis.
This compares with 7 c/kWh + 3 c/kWh = 10 c/kWh from existing gas, coal, nuclear, large reservoir hydro plants.
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Coal gets very little direct subsidies in the US.
Here is an example of the lifetime cost of a coal plant.
The key is running steadily at 90% output for 50 years, on average
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Assume mine-mouth coal plant in Wyoming; 1800 MW (three x 600 MW); turnkey-cost $10 b; life 50 y; CF 0.9; no direct subsidies.
Payments to bank, $5 b at 6% for 50 y; $316 million/y x 50 = $15.8 b
Payments to Owner, $5 b at 10% for 50 y; $504 million/y x 50 = $21.2 b
Lifetime production, base-loaded, 1800 x 8766 x 0.9 x 50 = 710,046,000 MWh
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Wyoming coal, low-sulfur, no CO2 scrubbers needed, at mine-mouth $15/US ton, 8600 Btu/lb, plant efficiency 40%, Btu/ton = 2000 x 8600 = 17.2 million
Lifetime coal use = 710,046,000,000 kWh/y x (3412 Btu/kWh/0.4)/17,200,000 Btu/US ton = 353 million US ton
Lifetime coal cost = $5.3 billion
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The Owner can deduct interest on borrowed money, and can depreciate the entire plant over 50 y, or less, which helps him achieve his 10% return on investment.
Those are general government subsidies, indirectly charged to taxpayers and/or added to government debt.
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Other costs:
Fixed O&M (labor, maintenance, insurance, taxes, land lease)
Variable O&M (water, chemicals, lubricants, waste disposal)
Fixed + Variable, newer plants 2 c/kWh, older plants up to 4 c/kWh
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Year 1 Cost
O&M = $0.02/kWh x 710,046,000 MWh/50 y x 1000 kWh/MWh = $0.284 b
Coal = $15/US ton x 353 million US ton/50 y = 0.106 b
Bank/Owner = (15.8, Bank + 21.2, Owner)/50 y= 0.740 b
Total = 1.130 b
Revenue = $0.08/kWh x 710,046,000 MWh/50 x 1000 kWh/MWh = $1.136 b
Total revenue equals total cost at about 8 c/kWh
Banks and Owners get 0.74/1.136 = 65% of the project revenues
For lower electricity cost/kWh, borrow more money, say 70%
Traditional Nuclear has similar economics; life 60 to 80 y; CF 0.9 in the US.
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For perspective, China used 2204.62/2000 x 4300 = 4740 million US ton in 2024.
China and Germany have multiple ultra-super-critical, USC, coal plants with efficiencies of 45% (LHV), 42% (HHV)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/ultrasupercritical-plant
Ahah
A messianic belief by modern pagans that they can “save the planet”. Initially, anyway, then it became a very profitable industry. Then, dumb as a brick politicians got on board and brought their burro-ocracies with them, who of course, must obey. I see it here every day in Wokeachusetts, where all state and local “officials” parrot the party line.
You first have to destroy a village if you want to redesign, reengineer and rebuild it.
Yes, but you generally have a plan for te reconstruction before you do.
Naaah! Planning is for wimps…
They do. The elite class is relatively unaffected, and the devastated minions beg to be “saved”, turning total control over to the masters.
No one said it was a good plan, just one that serves the lust for power.
Wind and Solar were was chosen because they will absolutely fail.
I disagree…
They were chosen due to used car salesmanship.
I think it was pretty obvious from the start that windmills and solar are not up to the task. I can’t explain why that was not obvious to everyone.
It’s becoming obvious now, even to the thickest skulls. With the exception of Mad Ed Miliband.
and the state governments in MA, CT, NY, CA, OR, WA, and a few others
and of course the “leaders” of diehard Australia
THE IMPOVERISHED, DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MAINE
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-state-of-maine
By Willem Post
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The over-taxed, over-regulated, already-impoverished Maine people are super-screwed, trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real growth Maine economy
The Maine economy has lots of low-tech/low-pay/low-benefit, bs jobs
The Maine economy has lots of woke, leftist bureaucrats
Screwed-over Mainers also have to pay for poverty-stricken, aliens of different cultures from all over, who illegally enter the US, a federal felony
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Those unvetted, illegal, often voting aliens, from all-over, are:
– the dregs of Third World countries, sent to Maine by their US-hating, leftist, woke governments, in cahoots with Soros/Biden-financed NGOs
– getting free housing, free food, a never-empty credit card, free phones, free healthcare, free education/job training and whatever other goodies they want.
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They mainly suck from the government tit:
– have no skills, no training, no education, no modern industrial experience.
– will take low-tech/low-pay/low-benefit jobs at 30% less than screwed-over Mainers.
– are often good at crime, murder, rape, drug and human trafficking, and driving vehicles into native merrymakers.
– the tens of millions of incompatible, subversive, walk-ins would rather undermine, instead of fight for traditional European and US values and culture.
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Many millions of illegal aliens have to be shipped back where they came from, before they forever ruin the US, as they ruined Europe, France ,the UK, Ireland, Spain, etc.
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Visual Ugliness of wind and Solar: Down-trodden Mainers often have to put up with the visual ugliness and noise of hundreds of windmills, that are often idle, because of too little wind year-round, and many thousands of acres of solar panels, that are often covered with snow and ice in winter; there is no solar at night.
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Girls Competing with Boys on Girls Teams: Down-trodden Maine families also have to endure the insults of government-imposed mandates of having their girls compete with “boys” on girls’ teams, and “sharing” girl bathrooms and locker rooms, and “losing” their matches to the “boys”, all as mandated by woke Governor Mills, surrounded by her cabal of idiots and her ingrown clique of bureaucrats sucking from the government tit.
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Experience of Denmark with Palestinians
The first generation (1992 arrivals):
Total accepted: 321 Palestinians
Still in Denmark by 2019: 270 people; about 84% remained.
Convicted of crimes: 204 people (63.6%).
Prison sentences: 71 people (22.1%).
Welfare dependency:
In 2003, 238 of 321 (74%) received some form of benefit.
In 2019, 176 full-time equivalents were on welfare.
Of these, 122 were on disability pensions; meaning roughly two-thirds of working-age people were on permanent pension payments.
The second generation (their children):
Total children: 999 born or raised in Denmark
Each couple has many children, because each child gets a monthly government check until 18.
Convicted of crimes: 337 (33.7%).
Prison sentences: 65 (6.5%).
This means the crime rate dropped between generations; from 63% down to 34%; but remained far higher than the Danish national average.
93-95% of Palestinians are Muslim, who do not marry Danish women.
In 2019, the Danish Justice Minister stated: “These asylum seekers should not have been let in”.
Norway, Sweden, etc., had similar experiences.
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Revelations of an “EBT/SNAP mom”, from X
If y’all was really smart you’d understand “kids is the biggest hustle out there”.
I don’t clock into no job,
I let Uncle Sam and baby daddies cut me a check every month. 5 kids = 5 bags.
Food stamps, free rent, free healthcare, and child support on top of that.
My bills paid before I even wake up.
Everybody keep asking why I had 5 kids at age 26, because every single one come with a check attached.
My life secured, while y’all stressing over 9 to 5s.
Don’t be mad at me, be mad at you ain’t catch on to the hustle.
This is the kind of “English” uttered by a SNAP/EBT “mom”, and there are tens of millions like her sucking tax dollars
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Food subsidies have had the unfortunate side effect of helping to destroy the nuclear family, creating generations of fatherless children and skyrocketing crime rates.
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Around 23% of all US households have single mothers.
Among black families, 47% are single mother households, 25% in Hispanic households and 12% in white households.
Approximately 7% of white families use SNAP, while 27% of black families and 23% of Hispanic families.
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Denmark: 72% of gang-crime convicts have non-Western background, i.e. 15% of the Danish population has 5 times the crime rate.
https://willempost.substack.com/p/denmark-72
A better word choice is teat.
Yes, I know, but here tit is better, I think
“The Maine economy has lots of low-tech/low-pay/low-benefit, bs jobs
The Maine economy has lots of woke, leftist bureaucrats”
There used to be a decent forest industry. There’s still some left but not as much as there could be. The paper companies mostly moved out and the enviros want to lock up the forests to do nothing but sequester carbon to save the planet.
Maine must have learned how to build a large, useless burro-ocracy from the state of MA. 🙂
A CHRONOLOGY OF EXPENSIVE WIND AND SOLAR HUBRIS IN IMPOVERISHED MAINE
https://willempost.substack.com/p/a-chronology-of-wind-and-solar-hubris?r=1n3sit&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
By Dudley Gray
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Thirty years of Democrat power, interrupted only once, has left Maine in a sorry state. A chronological “lesson of failure” is necessary to explain just how badly Maine residents have been represented.
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Besides closing the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant, Governor Angus King forced our two public utilities, CMP and Bangor Hydro, to divest their generating assets, primarily hydro-power dams. This law, enacted in 1999, caused the sale of the utilities to the Spaniards and the Canadians, respectively.
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These actions, between 1995 and 2003, set the stage for the widespread adoption of wind and solar systems on a large scale, without any benefit to Maine ratepayers and to the environment.
Please keep in mind that electricity rates were 8.4 cents per kWh in 1995
Governor King left incoming Governor Baldacci a $1.1 billion structural deficit.
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Then, Governor Baldacci, current vice-chairman of Avangrid, the Spanish subsidiary of Iberdrola, owner of CMP, gave us the Expedited Wind Law, which destroyed our mountaintops, ridges, and vistas, but still without any benefit to Maine ratepayers and the environment.
Governor Baldacci’s crowning achievement was to hand the incoming Republican Governor Paul LePage an even bigger $1.3 billion structural deficit.
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Governor LePage challenged this travesty by freezing hiring, eliminating no-show jobs, cutting expenses, renegotiating the state liquor contract, and repaying Maine hospitals $750 million in Maine-Care bad debt.
He left office in 2019 and gave Governor Mills a $167.8 million surplus, which she and the Democrat legislature have squandered beyond belief.
As Janet Mills leaves office to run against Sen. Susan Collins, she hands the next occupant of the Blaine House a $949 million deficit.
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We desperately need a conservative Republican Governor and sane legislature to stop the bleeding; otherwise, the state will end up statistically bankrupt, like Washington County.
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Lastly, Maine has over 400 grid-scale windmills and over 2 million solar panels in 141 separate solar setups, while at the same time electricity rates are nearing $0.30/kWh, similar to Europe.
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Somebody needs to explain the benefit to Maine’s native people and the benefit to the environment, and also who got rich on these all these scams, in addition to two of our above-mentioned Governors.
New England, all of it- is going to hell. Mostly due to corrupt, idiot politicians in Bah-stin who lead them, while the rest follow like sheep.
They have succeeded in the one way that matters to their promoters – that is, in emptying the pockets of the masses and filling the pockets of the snake oil salesmen promoting (and manufacturing and selling) them.
EUROPE AIMS TO WEAKEN THE US WITH EXPENSIVE OFFSHORE WINDMILLS THAT PRODUCE EXPENSIVE, LOW-QUALITY ELECTRICITY
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/europe-attempts-to-entangle-us-with-expensive-offshore-windmills
By Willem Post
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Net zero by 2050 Euro elites tried to weaken the US, with help of the unpatriotic, leftist Biden clique, into going down the black hole of 30,000 MW by 2030 of expensive, highly-subsidized, weather-dependent, grid-disturbing offshore windmill systems, which would need expensive, highly subsidized, short-lived, battery systems for grid support.
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Offshore wind full cost of electricity FCOE = 30 c/kWh + 11 c/kWh = 41 c/kWh, no subsidies
Offshore wind full cost of electricity FCOE = 15 c/kWh + 11 c/kWh = 26 c/kWh, 50% subsidies
The 11 c/kWh is for various measures required by wind and solar. Power plant to landfill cost basis.
This compares with 7 c/kWh + 3 c/kWh = 10 c/kWh from existing gas, coal, nuclear, large reservoir hydro plants.
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Such expensive W/S electricity would have made the US even less competitive in world markets.
Any US tariffs on the European supply of wind systems would greatly increase their turnkey capital costs/MW and their electricity costs/ kWh.
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Almost the entire supply of the wind projects would be:
1) designed and made in Europe,
2) then transported across the Atlantic Ocean by European specialized ships,
3) then unloaded at new, taxpayer-financed, $500-million storage/pre-assembly/staging/barge-loading areas,
4) then barged to European specialized erection ships for erection of the windmill systems.
5) The financing would be mostly by European pension funds, that pay benefits to European retirees.
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Hundreds of people in each seashore state would have jobs during the erection phase
The other erection jobs would be by specialized European people, mostly on cranes and ships
Hundreds of people in each seashore state would have long-term O&M jobs, using mostly European spare parts, during the 20-y electricity production phase.
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Conglomerates owned by Euro elites would finance, build, erect, own and operate almost all of the 30,000 MW of offshore windmills, providing work for many thousands of European workers for decades, and multi-$billion profits each year.
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That Euro offshore wind ruse did not work out, because Trump was elected.
Trump-hating, Euro elites are furious. Projects are being cancelled. The European windmill industry is in shambles, with multi-$billion annual losses, lay-offs and tens of $billions of stranded costs.
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Trump spared the US from the W/S evils inflicted by the leftist, woke Democrat cabal, that used an autopen for Biden signatures, and bypassed on-the-beach/in-the-basement Biden, an increasingly dysfunctional Marionette.
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Trump declared a National Energy Emergency, and put W/S/B systems at the bottom of the list, and suspended their licenses to put their rushed, glossy environmental impact statements, EIS, under proper scrutiny.
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Euro elites used the IPCC-invented, “CO2-is-evil” hoax, based on its own “science”.
These elites used:
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1) the foghorn of government-subsidized Corporate Media to propagate scare-mongering slogans and brainwash the people,
2) censorship to suppress free thinking on town hall forums,
3) election interference, as in Moldova and Georgia,
4) ostracizing /marginalizing major political parties to produce desired outcomes, as in Germany.
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Wall Street elites saw an opportunity for tax shelters for its elite clients.
Woke politicians/bureaucrats were “cut-in” on $juicy deals to pass subsidies, favorable rules and regulations, and impose government mandates.
Euro elites wanted the US to deliver electricity to users at very high c/kWh, to preserve Europe’s extremely advantageous trade balance with the US.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/international-trade-is-a-dog-eat-dog-business
There’s always room for optimism – if you care to make it.
For example, who would have believed that the computing power of a Cray-2 computer would be exceeded by that of a hand-held iPhone?
But in the meantime . . .
Rationality and ideology cannot function in the same mind space at the same time.
It’s about time the world had another Enlightenment experience, where belief / ideology is discarded in favor of rationality as the standard approach on all matters.
That was what woke was supposed to be, till the Left repurposed it to mean the exact opposite.
That is true.
People should not be surprised about these claims. Europe has been targeted and successfully overtaken by Marxist ideology. Mass immigration sealed the deal. Once the ideology has firmly taken hold in the governments AGW will be forgotten. Bet me, and the answer isn’t that far away.
I think Obama and Biden had a lot to do with Europe’s pending downfall.
Obama and Biden did nothing while the Islamic Terror Army rampaged throughout the Middle East killing and displacing millions of innocent people.
The people who were displaced went to Europe and are now destabilizing those European societies.
When Trump took office after 2016, he proceeded to wipe out the Islamic Terror Army in a matter of weeks.
Obama and Biden could have done the same thing. They had the same U.S. military. The difference is Trump was willing to use it, and Obama and Biden were not, for whatever delusional reasons they had for sitting by and allowing this mass murder of innocent people to continue.
And the US culture-destroying Islamic, Somali mass murdering and destructive chaos, and fraud, waste and abuse to greatly increase in the US
THE DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS WITH GIANT BATTERIES
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-state-of-massachusetts-with-giant-batteries
By Willem Post
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A recent announcement is for a statewide, 4-h battery system, installed capacity 5000 MW/20,000 MWh.
Tesla recommends not charging to more than 80% full and not discharging to less than 20% full, to achieve normal life of 15 years and normal aging at 1.5%/y.
The delivered capacity would be 20,000 MWh x 0.6, Tesla factor x aging factor x 0.9, outage factor = 10,800 MWh
The batteries would 1) absorb midday solar peaks and deliver the electricity during peak hours of late afternoon/early evening, and 2) stabilize the grid, due to varying W/S output, 24/7/365
The turnkey cost would be about $600/installed kWh, delivered as AC at battery outlet, 2024 pricing, or $600/kWh x 20 million kWh = $12.0 billion, about every 15 years.
There will be annually increasing insurance costs for risky W/S/B projects.
If 50% were borrowed from banks, the cost of amortizing $6 billion at 6% over 15 years = $608 million/y
If 50% were from Owners, the cost of amortizing $6 billion at 10% over 15 years = $774 million/y
The two items, total $1,382 million/y, would be paid to Banks and Owners
There are many more cost items
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Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt:
1) Federal and state tax credits, up to 50% (Community tax credit of up to 10% – Federal tax credit of 30% – State tax credit and other incentives of up to 10%);
2) 5-y Accelerated Depreciation write-off of the entire project;
3) Loan interest deduction to reduce any taxable profits from whatever source.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital-costs-losses-and-aging
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No banks will finance W/S/B projects at acceptable interest rates and no insurance companies will insure them at acceptable premiums, no matter what the leftist, woke bureaucrats are announcing.
The sooner the U-turn, the better for New England, the US and Europe
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NOTE: Trump has declared a National Energy Emergency. A new gas line from Pennsylvania to New England and new gas/oil storage systems near each CCGT power plant are needed, because most of the “planned” W/S/B systems will never be built, especially after the application of tariffs.
Night time in Europe (4 AM in London, Dec. 18) has High Pressure from the coast of Portugal, across Europe and Russia, and on through Alaska. Wind speeds are from zip, zilch, and nada to slightly above.
Cue HSB “Germany. Seven straight days of no wind…”
They didn’t think this through, did they.
We have to laugh and scoff at these people, but it really is a tragic situation they have created with their delusional Net Zero thinking. It can’t be comforting for Europeans to be wondering if their lights are going to stay on.
And when they complain to the politicians, Mad Ed Miliband will have a solution: Add more windmills!
“They didn’t think this through, did they.” No, the were the perfect useful idiots.One has to wonder what they believed/were told by the puppet masters to make them go Marxist.
It took only 2-3 generations to program people to not think for themselves.
New England has Wind/Solar lulls of. 5 to 7 days throughout the year.
The winter ones have the worst impacts.
NEW GAS PIPELINE DIRELY NEEDED IN NEW ENGLAND TO PROVIDE STEADY POWER FOR AI AND OTHER MODERN NEEDS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/new-gas-pipeline-direly-needed-in-new-england-to-provide-steady
By Willem Post
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Sloganeering Replacing Rational Thinking
Most New England states have gone absolutely apeshit about environmental and other issues.
Rational thinking by independent STEM professionals is replaced with inane slogans by brainwashed nincompoops with signs at gatherings, as duly reported, ad nauseam, by the government-subsidized Corporate Media.
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Environmental Lawfare
No state can make laws that reach beyond its borders to affect other states, countries, people, companies.
Every state attorney knows this. Every law student knows this.
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Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) has a provision that allows states to block federally approved projects, if they do not meet local environmental standards.
That provision likely would be declared unconstitutional by a Republican-leaning Supreme Court.
Trump has declared a National Energy Emergency
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New Natural Gas Pipeline
New England has needed a new gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New England, already for about 20 years.
States trying to stop it may be in violation of interstate commerce laws
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The gas pipeline is direly needed to save the near-zero/real-growth New England economy from brown-outs/black-outs in winter.
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It is highly likely, New England will have much higher electricity prices, c/kWh, due to:
1) increased, weather-dependent, grid-disturbing, environmentally destructive, highly subsidized, wind and solar systems on the grid, and
2) increased super-expensive, highly subsidized, short-life, battery systems to counteract the ups and downs of wind/solar outputs, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365
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By now, it should be abundantly obvious, no additional offshore windmills will be built for at least the next 10 years, if Vance becomes President after Trump.
Weather Conditions
In the US, the South is the worst area for onshore wind, New England is next worst.
In the US, the cloudy/rainy/foggy Washington State area is the worst area for solar
This has been known for at least 4 decades by states and the federal government.
Wil.. I really like your posts….
…. when I have time to read them 😉
There is no European emperor; Ursula Von Der Crazy will never share power as long as she and her cronies can keep skimming off the slush fund known as Ukraine! And in her dreams she still believes that Russia can be fleeced of its copious natural resources. The Farce is exceedingly strong in this one!
The EU is talking about building up their military; apparently they have already forgotten that they traded most of their industrial capacity to China for their unreliable Ruinables! Doh!!
The US is coming to EU energy rescue with large amounts of LNG.
Only because it is profitable.
It’s profitable because…?
I wouldn’t call it “rescue ” when you blow up someones pipeline and then sell your product with a 250% premium to them.
It’s at best a Munchhausen by Proxy Syndrome but in fact Mafia tactics.
Lots of conspiracy theories about who was behind that.
Some aspects of the one blaming the US seem credible until one does a deep dive.
Likewise Russia, Ukraine, various other entities.
The U.S. should not sell LNG to aid and abet the criminals in Brussels
THE US HAS LOPSIDED TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH ALMOST ALL “TRADING PARTNERS”
https://willempost.substack.com/p/the-us-has-lopsided-trade-agreements?r=1n3sit&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
By Willem Post
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Before NAFTA, Canada and Mexico always had annual trade deficits with the US
After NAFTA:
1) Canada and Mexico, with investments by European and Asian companies, have huge DUTY-FREE annual trade surpluses with the US.
2) Foreign (and US) companies shipped parts to Mexico and assembled cars, with their entire production shipped DUTY-FREE into the US.
That is Trojan Horse exploitation that is sucking wealth/jobs from the US.
3) Dutch companies shipped automated greenhouses, the size of airplane hangars, to Canada (which provides almost- free gas and electricity as an incentive), with almost their entire production shipped DUTY-FREE into the US.
That is Trojan Horse exploitation that is sucking wealth/jobs from the US
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Dutch/Belgian conglomerates own more than 50% of the food supermarkets on the US East Coast.
Aldi, a German company had 2559 US food supermarkets in July, 2025, also owns Trader Joe’s with 608 stores.
That means plenty of permanent shelf space for European farm goods to the disadvantage of US farmers.
Prior to the 1960s, the US had trade surpluses and high tariff barriers. Europe wanted more exports to the US to grow its economy. Kennedy became President in 1960 and lowered tariffs on European imports (Kennedy Round), without the US getting any lower tariffs and lower non-tariff barriers from Europe. Europe’s elite loved Kennedy. Other countries, with developing economies, followed Europe’s example.
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This ultimately led to: 1) the infamous US Rust Belt, and 2) a great weakening of US Labor Unions, and 3) foreign countries owning large chunks of the US economy, on which they make a profit and a rate of return, which gets shipped mostly out of the US. The end result is the US having increasingly larger trade deficits and balance of payment deficits.
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On July 1, 2020, NAFTA was replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
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Free Trade?
Japan has a 700% tariff on US rice. India 100%.
Egypt 65% average tariff on all US goods.
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On quantities in excess of quota, Canadian tariffs on US dairy products are: Milk up to 243%. Butter up to 298%, Cheese up to 245%. This screws US farmers, already for decades.
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Living in Vermont, we buy, throughout the year, electricity (GMP, Canada), propane (IRVING, Canada), gasoline (IRVING, Canada), and vegetables and flowers (Hanneford, Dutch/Belgium)
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Perot, a Texas businessman, predicted NAFTA would be sucking tens of $billions of wealth and millions of jobs out of the US. Deluded, brainwashed Americans laughed at Perot at that time.
CBS News “reported” 70,500 American factories (millions of jobs lost) have closed since the start of NAFTA
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Trump is doing the right thing with tariffs to increase US production of goods and services for domestic use and export,
that will employ tens of millions of workers, build strong families and communities, and will reduce imports of goods and services, and will transform decades of wealth/job-sucking trade deficits into trade surpluses to MAGA
German Economist: Trump Tariffs are Saving the US
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/german-economist-trump-tariffs-saving-us
the energy equivalent of that amount of gas is the daily output of 220 nuclear power plants
That’s the kind of sloppy publicity we used to criticize here. How big is a nuclear power plant? Is there a standard definition of “a nuclear power plant”? How much is that in Hiroshimas? Olympic size swimming pools? How many 100,000 homes can it heat? Are the homes in Florida or Winnipeg? Do the homes have swimming pools or is this a non swimming pool metric?
Let’s stick to precise language in the appropriate units?
Agreed. This is not just a war on words in publications, it is also a war on words used in science that have fluid, context social or common language derived definitions.
It’s a long list.
“To put the 0.6 billion cubic meters of gas into perspective, consider that the energy equivalent of that amount of gas is the daily output of 220 nuclear power plants…”
Comeon Vjay! That amount of gas was used over a period of 7 or 8 days, not one day meaning it could have been handled by about 30 reactors or about half of France’s nuclear power fleet of 57 reactors. Why not express your view by telling us how many reactors would have been needed to supply this energy in one day, or one minute. You could have made the number much bigger. This is no better than a dark side trick.
Some of the statements in this article do not match my personal experience. We have had quite a number of days in the Netherlands with temperatures above normal, I even have a rose in bloom in my garden. This does not quite match the narrative of an exceptional cold snap.
According to the Trading Economics website “European natural gas prices hovered around €27 per megawatt-hour in December, near their lowest levels since April 2024, and were down roughly 45% for the year”. The supply appears to outstrip the demand for gas, even if more is needed to generate heat and electricity.
The higher than usual temperatures makes me happy as it will lower my gas bill that is artificially high because of government taxes to fund the green transition. Base price of 1 m3 gas is € 0.30. On top of that we pay a fixed tax of € 0.70 and that total is charged with 21% VAT, i.e. tax on tax. In other words, the idiot climate policies of our government make gas 3.3 times more expensive than it needs to be, pushing low-income households unnecessarily into poverty because they cannot afford the energy bill.
“I even have a rose in bloom”
but, but… I thought the Gulf Stream was failing and all of Europe would freeze! /s
Soon… soon it’s going to happen with the demise of coal just you wait and see skeptics-
Global coal demand hit record high this year but is set to decline by 2030, IEA says
Just like their dooming tipping points.
Ahha…
From the article: “Herein lies the supreme irony of the story: An anti-fossil fuel, anti-drilling European Union is keeping its population alive only because of a pro-fossil fuel, pro-human administration across the Atlantic. The United States, by encouraging hydrocarbon production, has created the surplus that now warms European homes.”
That is delicious!
Trump is keeping Europe’s lights on.
Great article!
The problem with net zero is illuminated here. If Germany needs electricity, from where does it come? The Netherlands? That means the Netherlands must build out their wind to supply themselves AND Germany. And the reverse is also true. Does Italy need to expand their wind to supply all, or even most, of Northern Europe and vice versa?
The amount of overbuilding becomes unbearable as you expand the idea that the wind is always blowing somewhere. It isn’t like natural gas that can be transported to areas that need it.
Clear-thinking Vijay delivered another deathblow to Europe’s wind, solar, battery idiocy, which it likes to foist onto the US, etc., for domination/exploitation and money-making reasons.
But Trump will have none of that. He took away subsidies and wind, solar, batteries are collapsing in the US, and took away licenses and is redoing Biden’ rushed, shitty environmental studies to finally show the immense wind/solar damage and unreliability.
Good old-fashioned, reliable, domestic, low-cost fossil fuels are dominant again, which will greatly improve the US domestic and world competitiveness.
EUROPE IN BIG DO-DO, DUE TO EXCESSIVE WIND/SOLAR/BATTERIES; HIGH COST OF ENERGY AND MATERIALS
https://willempost.substack.com/p/europe-in-big-do-do?r=1n3sit&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
By Willem Post
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Europe is in poor shape. It has a decreasing/stagnant GDP, stagnant real wages, major civil unrest, and tens of millions of incompatible, subversive, walk-ins, who will undermine, instead of fight for traditional European values and culture.
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Euro elites, having lost the wind/solar “climate war”, need a new enemy to distract and unify the people.
Euro elites doing Russo-phobic, saber rattling to aid Ukraine is empty posturing, without the US “backstop”
Russia, with a growing GDP, despite sanctions, a unified people, gaining on the battlefield, would just roll over and play dead?
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Trump would be an idiot to agree to prolonging the Russia-Ukraine conflict with the US “backstop”, as demanded by the UK, because it would be a major drain on US finances for years, and a huge distraction regarding MAGA.
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However, the Deep State and in Congress, most Democrats and some Republicans would love it.
Musk is getting close to divulge how many of these Members of Congress are outperforming investment professionals on Wall Street. They have no problem defending/financing corrupt Ukraine, an undemocratic state, where:
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1) Elections were canceled (also in Rumania), or stolen (also in Moldova), and Le Pen was sidelined in France
2) The Russian Orthodox Church was banned,
3) Political opponents were silenced/tortured/killed,
4) The USAID-subsidized pro-Ukraine media were put under total government control, “because of martial law”
This is the result when too many academics, politicians, bureaucrats, and environmentalists are allowed to call the shots while ignoring the sentiments and preferences of consumers. What’s especially galling in cases like the above is that public tax money is being used to finance products that are not only expensive but also undependable, and that the unproven and likely erroneous theory of fossil fuel-driven climate change will be prevented by them.
Very nice Vijay. The problem is 100% government if we could eliminate the influence of the United Nations and the European Union I am convinced the the European nations individually would fire up their fossil fuel and nuclear generators and sell their wind mills and solar panels back to the Chinese.
a wee problem in all this debating.
It’s been uncommonly WARM in most of Europe for the last weeks after a short cold snap.
This article is old news, because far from being freezing there are plants which usually pop out in Feb-march are showing signs of wanting to burst into flower. (daffodils in december anyone?!!)
Having been skiing in the alps recently we are all painfully aware of the extreme lack of decent snow for the end of year holidays.
It was great for a few weeks in November, but rubbish now, and even in usually freezing Russia winter is delayed this year by 2 months.
Come january things may change but I don’t like to see scaremongering articles which have little basis in reality..
Oh and btw it was 14C here today and pouring rain.
Back in the 90s we would have a least 10cm of snow minimum in Jura by now and obligation snow tyres.
I’ve done a lot of driving in snow.
So far just ONE evening this winter and no sign of more.