That is the way Germany! Stop the heavy reliance on foil fuels and become more eco-friendly.
We cant even build fucking power lines without NIMBYs crying about it, not even to begin speaking about all of the windmills necessary.
And him deciding from one day to the next to stop funding to programs to help people make their homes more energy efficient doesnt help either.
Its so stupid that the greens gave up the one really good point of their program they had which was taking on new cheap debt to invest in the future.
You dont say…
If only there was some technology that allowed us to harvest the power of the atom.
duh
How do you say Captain Obvious in German?
Is Nord Stream 2 part of plan to cut reliance on Russian gas?
A little too late for that lol
Here’s the issue: Germany wants to be 80% renewables by 2030, possibly 100% by 2035. It does not want to use nuclear. Transforming your entire energy infrastructure, and to a great extend your industrial one, requires energy. The only source left is fossil fuels. IIRC, natural gas is about 2 decades behind oil in its diminishing [EROI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_return_on_investment). Oil’s EROI is diminishing quickly; it is too expensive. Ergo you are stuck with natural gas.
At this point, one requires a detailed analysis of the 1) costs of green transition 2) the effect on cost of paying more for non-Russian gas. Maybe the price differential will be negligible over the next 10-15 years. Maybe it will make or break the entire transition.
If its the former, then it’s a no-brainer to diversify Germany’s gas imports. If its the latter, then there is no alternative to Russia for the next decade if Germany wants its green transition.
From the way Germany is behaving, I think it’s the latter.
If that is true, then what any other country wants its entirely irrelevant because we are speaking about the future of German industry’s energy. The cost of your energy drives your industrial capacity. If we don’t have cheap energy, then Germany’s export-oriented economy is dead and with it the German state & society as we have it today.
This is a fundamentally different problem than the over-simplified “German’s political class is beholden to Russian corruption” we are hearing. It’s “Germany is beholden to its own industry”. No cookie for that one. Even worse, it’s *existential*. You cannot go to Germany and pull the existential card if Germany’s already at that point.
Silver lining: if used properly (read: hydrogen works), then natural gas will cease to be of any importance within the next two decades. A long time to wait for energy security, but building nuclear plants now wouldn’t be much quicker.
You are really, really, really fucked Germany. Are you going to import France nuclear energy? Thanks Urgroßmutter Merkel.
Good.
Well hello there 🇳🇴
Good thing you didn’t partake in some shortsighted virtue signalling by shutting down your nuclear power plants and then build a new gas pipeline from Russia ensuring you are committed to gas for decades.
What’s that? Ohhh….ohhh I see.
> Berlin sees natural gas as a bridge technology to help cut carbon emissions until it can build and import more renewable energies.
> Europe was already struggling with an energy crunch when Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom slashed gas deliveries to the bloc in October, sending soaring prices higher still.
Beggars can’t be choosers. Capitalistic market requires cheap crude resources and cheap labor? Tough shit, you are going to need Russia (and the bombed-to-stone-age Middle East) for the former and China (and Vietnam) for the latter.
No shit Einstein
finally
Did that question stick in Habecks mind while his party supported the shut down of german nuclear power ? The fact that if you take awai one piece of a thing you must replace it with something other.. Always interesting when ideology meets reality.
18 comments
That is the way Germany! Stop the heavy reliance on foil fuels and become more eco-friendly.
We cant even build fucking power lines without NIMBYs crying about it, not even to begin speaking about all of the windmills necessary.
And him deciding from one day to the next to stop funding to programs to help people make their homes more energy efficient doesnt help either.
Its so stupid that the greens gave up the one really good point of their program they had which was taking on new cheap debt to invest in the future.
You dont say…
If only there was some technology that allowed us to harvest the power of the atom.
duh
How do you say Captain Obvious in German?
Is Nord Stream 2 part of plan to cut reliance on Russian gas?
A little too late for that lol
Here’s the issue: Germany wants to be 80% renewables by 2030, possibly 100% by 2035. It does not want to use nuclear. Transforming your entire energy infrastructure, and to a great extend your industrial one, requires energy. The only source left is fossil fuels. IIRC, natural gas is about 2 decades behind oil in its diminishing [EROI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_return_on_investment). Oil’s EROI is diminishing quickly; it is too expensive. Ergo you are stuck with natural gas.
Now that we are stuck with natural gas, where should we source it from? The Iran deal got killed by the US, and the EU was too weak to do anything about it. That is [one of two main gas suppliers in Eurasia](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335503509_Iran_and_Future_European_Union_Gas_Supply_Sociolinguistic_Element_of_Iranian_Gas_Export_Media_Debate) down. The other one is Russia.
At this point, one requires a detailed analysis of the 1) costs of green transition 2) the effect on cost of paying more for non-Russian gas. Maybe the price differential will be negligible over the next 10-15 years. Maybe it will make or break the entire transition.
If its the former, then it’s a no-brainer to diversify Germany’s gas imports. If its the latter, then there is no alternative to Russia for the next decade if Germany wants its green transition.
From the way Germany is behaving, I think it’s the latter.
If that is true, then what any other country wants its entirely irrelevant because we are speaking about the future of German industry’s energy. The cost of your energy drives your industrial capacity. If we don’t have cheap energy, then Germany’s export-oriented economy is dead and with it the German state & society as we have it today.
This is a fundamentally different problem than the over-simplified “German’s political class is beholden to Russian corruption” we are hearing. It’s “Germany is beholden to its own industry”. No cookie for that one. Even worse, it’s *existential*. You cannot go to Germany and pull the existential card if Germany’s already at that point.
Silver lining: if used properly (read: hydrogen works), then natural gas will cease to be of any importance within the next two decades. A long time to wait for energy security, but building nuclear plants now wouldn’t be much quicker.
Edit: It will get even worse if Russia becomes the transit country [for Iranian natural gas to Europe](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/a-marriage-of-convenience-between-natural-gas-giants-iran-and-russia/).
Full green energy for 2030 without gas?
You are really, really, really fucked Germany. Are you going to import France nuclear energy? Thanks Urgroßmutter Merkel.
Good.
Well hello there 🇳🇴
Good thing you didn’t partake in some shortsighted virtue signalling by shutting down your nuclear power plants and then build a new gas pipeline from Russia ensuring you are committed to gas for decades.
What’s that? Ohhh….ohhh I see.
> Berlin sees natural gas as a bridge technology to help cut carbon emissions until it can build and import more renewable energies.
> Europe was already struggling with an energy crunch when Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom slashed gas deliveries to the bloc in October, sending soaring prices higher still.
Beggars can’t be choosers. Capitalistic market requires cheap crude resources and cheap labor? Tough shit, you are going to need Russia (and the bombed-to-stone-age Middle East) for the former and China (and Vietnam) for the latter.
No shit Einstein
finally
Did that question stick in Habecks mind while his party supported the shut down of german nuclear power ? The fact that if you take awai one piece of a thing you must replace it with something other.. Always interesting when ideology meets reality.
Your former chancellor does not approve.