Rent-seekers have been telling us that wind and solar will soon not only displace, but entirely replace, our “ageing” coal-fired power plants, knock gas-fired plants out of the ballpark and crush nuclear power plants before they even enter the contest. Such was the hype, anyway.
Then came 2021.
Massive month-long wind droughts left wind power acolytes red-faced across Europe and forced both the German and British governments to go begging, cap in hand, to the owners and operators of those “ageing” coal-fired power plants if they would mind, ever so much, firing up their plants in order to prevent mass blackouts across Germany and the UK. Embarrassing, to be sure.
Then came Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which exposed the fact he has a chokehold on wind and solar-obsessed Europe.
‘Green’ policies designed to wipe out reliable and affordable coal and nuclear power plants – on the pretext that they would be replaced by the chaotic output from wind turbines and solar panels – have long been exposed as delusional nonsense.
In reality, to the extent that they are being replaced (or, more accurately, momentarily displaced), reliable coal and nuclear generators are being sidelined by expensive to run and inefficient fast-start up open cycle gas turbines (fuelled by gas or oil) and giant diesel generators, run on diesel or bunker fuel – their piston engines are the same as used in oceangoing ships.
And guess who holds the lion’s share of the oil and gas that fires northern Europe’s gas and diesel generators?
That would, of course, be Vlad the Energy Impaler.
Europe’s efforts to rely upon hopelessly unreliable wind and solar, combined with its addiction to Russian gas has threatened the purported certainty of the ‘inevitable’ ‘green’ energy transition.
In a nod to reality, Eurocrats have deemed not only nuclear power but natural gas to be part of the new green team, much to the horror of the crony capitalists who profit from Europe’s wind and solar scam.
JoNova takes a look at how Putin’s territorial ambitions and stranglehold on Europe’s gas supply have upended its energy policy, overnight.
Major loss for Renewables Industry: EU declares nuclear and gas are “Green” too
Jo Nova Blog
Jo Nova
7 July 2022
Why is nuclear power Green today when it wasn’t yesterday? Because it was never about the science.
Nuclear power has been the NetZeroiest energy on Earth since the sun formed from collapsing interstellar gas. Nuclear plants don’t produce any CO2 at all, but that wasn’t good enough because it was never about CO2 either. It was always about power and money and profits for friends.
And the best friend of a bureaucrat is a captive-dependent-industry, one that survives on handouts. Those in need of Big Government largess always lobby for Big Government, donate to Big Government causes and cheer on everything Big Government wants them to cheer on, even if it’s a naked man in high heels.
Yesterday gas was a fossil fuel, but today it’s a sustainable one:
Gas and Nuclear Power Can Be ‘Green’ Under New EU Plan
Wall Street Journal
Kim Makeral
6 July 2022
Lawmakers in the European Union voted to include nuclear power and natural gas in the bloc’s list of investments deemed sustainable, a move it hopes will trigger more funding of those sectors but that critics said would slow down the EU’s shift to greener energy sources.
Wall Street Journal
Just like that — sensible flexibility pops out of the cake:
‘Putin rubbing hands with glee’ after EU votes to class gas and nuclear as green
The Guardian
Jennifer Rankin
6 July 0222
Under the plans, gas can be classed as a sustainable investment if “the same energy capacity cannot be generated with renewable sources” and plans are in place to switch to renewables or “low-carbon gases”. Nuclear power can be called green if a project promises to deal with radioactive waste.
Greens are furious, not realizing that it was their work that made the EU an energy basket-case pouring money into Russia:
Campaigners are now vowing legal action. WWF said that with its fellow NGO Client Earth it would “explore all potential avenues for further action to stop this greenwashing and protect the credibility of the whole EU taxonomy”.
Two anti-nuclear states, Austria and Luxembourg, have already announced they will take the commission to the European court of justice.
The Guardian
The Washington Post sees the light that renewables can’t make it without help, but credits The War for their awakening and forgets that Donald Trump and a million skeptics were right all along. Excuses, excuses…
Amid energy crisis, E.U. says gas, nuclear can sometimes be ‘green’
The Washington Times
Emily Rauhala and Quentin Aries
6 July 2022
The war in Ukraine added new complexities to the debate. The war has made Europe rethink its reliance on Russia, particularly when it comes to fossil fuels, and has amplified calls for an accelerated energy transition.
The Washington Post
And they amplified what exactly — an energy transition to gas and nukes?
Jo Nova Blog
via STOP THESE THINGS
July 13, 2022, by stopthesethings
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