The Lie of Cheap Renewable Energy

If you review the Texas energy markets as a reference, it sure looks like this was always the point. Meaning, that "cheap" is entirely reliant on really expensive suppliers to supplement the shortfalls. And the more you are unavailable the more money you make for the boutique suppliers.

 

Green energy is destroying the German economy.
Green Bloodbath: Major Industries Closing Down As German Energy Prices Soar
By P Gosselin on 14. November 2023

Germany’s “Blackout News” reports the destructive consequences of Germany’s soaring energy prices and unstable power supply.



Chart: BDEW

German electricity 3 times more expensive

Firstly Blackout News reports how Germany’s electricity price is three times higher than it is in USA:

The German electricity price is three times as high as in the USA. Criticism is being voiced about Germany’s energy policy. Financial expert Jan Viebig criticizes the fact that the phase-out of coal and nuclear energy is not well coordinated with the European Union. Energy policy has three main objectives: low prices, security of supply and environmental protection with regard to CO₂ emissions. German energy policy performs poorly in all three areas (Focus: 03 November 2023).”

“Massive job cuts” at Bayer

Next the German site reports how Leverkusen-based pharmaceutical and agrochemical group Bayer plans “massive job cuts.”

Moreover:

By the end of the year, the Group intends to cut several management levels, which will lead to a significant reduction in the workforce. This step is considered necessary due to the current business performance (rp-online: 9 November 2023).”

250-year old German iron foundry files for insolvency

Another victim of Germany’s green policies is renowned iron foundry and automotive supplier Eisenwerk Hasenclever & Sohn:

Eisenwerk Hasenclever & Sohn is an important player in the foundry industry. It has long supplied well-known car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford and Porsche. However, the company is now facing a serious crisis. Despite a proud history of 250 years, in which Hasenclever has made impressive progress and always aimed to establish itself as a leading European supplier in the industry, it has now filed for insolvency (wiwo: 7 November 2023).”

We can only speculate what happens next at this iron foundry. Will it be sold off in pieces and scattered abroad – leaving the region a rust belt?

Machine builder Homag to lay off 600

The latest bad news came just yesterday; machinery builder Homag, based in Schopfloch, Baden-Württemberg, has announced that it will cut some 600 jobs worldwide.

This decision is a reaction to the declining demand for its products. In Germany, around 35 jobs are to be affected. The measure aims to achieve savings of around 25 million euros in the coming year and around 50 million euros annually from 2025. Despite the demand for woodworking machines in many branches of industry, the company expects the coming year to be challenging due to unexpectedly weak order figures (stuttgarter-nachrichten: 7 November 2023).”

There are no optimistic economic signals in sight. Energy prices, inflation and catastrophic economic policies are rapidly sinking the German economic battleship and prosperity.

 

Magical thinking about energy:
At The New York Krazy Klimate Konference
November 18, 2023/ Francis Menton

• 
  On Thursday (November 16) a publication called City & State (specializing in covering New York state and local government) put on a conference they called the “2023 Clean Energy in New York Summit: New York’s Path to Sustainability.” Let’s call this the New York Krazy Klimate Konference.
  
  
• I showed up to observe and report on the festivities, along with another prominent skeptic, Roger Caiazza of the Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York blog.
  
  
• The Krazy Klimate Konference featured a gaggle of high-ranking New York bureaucrats and legislators, there to report on New York’s exciting progress toward Net Zero nirvana; plus an even larger gaggle of grifters and parasites looking to cash in on the big piles of government loot sure to get passed out along the way.
  

READ MORE

 

Time to pay the piper.
Renewables facing “Enron-style collapse” says Venture Capitalist — Sustainability has become a dirty word
By Jo Nova

Word is spreading openly of the awful third quarter results in wind and solar power, and in EV’s. Morningstar noted some $14 billion dollars moved out of sustainability funds in the last quarter even before the dismal results were announced. This is only a small part of the $300 billion total, but it’s a big bad shift in momentum in a sector that is supposed to be going exponential and theoretically “the next big thing”.

Two years ago funds were tagging anything they could with Sustainability. But the term has become a dirty word, and so has ESG. Funds that were enthusiastically adding these green terms to their titles are now dropping them and backing away slowly…

With major daily business newspapers now reporting the bad news it’s hard to see what will stop the slide — only massive subsidies would do that (temporarily), but the US has already done that with the bizarrely named Inflation Reduction Act.

But make no mistake, there is a $300 billion industry begging for help and a lot of politicians who don’t want to admit their renewables push was an economic disaster. The German government has bailed out Siemens, and the UK government is throwing money at wind power to try to get investors back. It’s like communism by stealth. The government demands industries do magical things, then when they fail, it saves them, making industry increasingly serve governments instead of customers. But the money, or the system can’t go on forever…

 

The Chinese get it.
Beijing's Coal Boom Is Here To Stay - Vijay Jayaraj, RealClearEnergy

 

Another wrong turn . . .

Major Setback For German Green Transformation As Top Court Rules Funding Unconstitutional!
By P Gosselin on 21. November 2023

Appropriation of 60 billion euros ruled unconstitutional by Germany High Court
After Germany’s Ministry of Health had been granted 200 billion euros of spending to combat the Corona pandemic, it ultimately ended up spending only 140 billion, thus leaving 60 billion unused. Health minister Karl Lauterbach (Socialists) and economics and environment minister Robert Habeck (Greens) moved to spend the 60 billion euros on climate projects.

Illegal funneling

Germany’s ministers Habeck and Lauterbach tried to pull a fast one, and to funnel the unused money for other purposes, namely climate and transformation projects that would make Germany more green and climate friendly.

Unconstitutional! That’s what Germany’s top court just ruled, and the government has now imposed a “spending freeze on new expenditures, especially green initiatives,” reports euronews.com. This has thrown Germany’s budget into chaos.

At the stroke of a pen and a blink of an eye, Germany’s Ministry of Economics and Environment is suddenly missing $60 billion euros it had planned to use to finance the many green transformation projects. Germany’s climate program has just crashed spectacularly into a wall.

The government has also since ordered a “spending freeze on new expenditures, especially green initiatives,” according to euronews.com here. The consequences are horrendous.

Projects “may be on the brink of collapse”

For example, because billions are suddenly unavailable, chip factories in Magdeburg and Dresden may be on the brink of collapse, according to the online Berliner Zeitung here. “Previously, this amount had been kept aside to be used for renewable energy subsidies, energy-efficient housing, chips production and support measures for high-energy companies.” But the German top court rules it unconstitutional.

Longterm budget in total disarray

“The top court’s ruling has thrown German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government’s 2024 budget announcement plans on Friday into disarray. The impact could also extend to financial plans until 2027, as the government now has to make do with €60 billion less,” reports euronews.com.

Nius.de here comments: “The real kicker, however, is that the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision is likely to affect not only the so-called ‘climate and transformation fund’ of the federal government, but also other ‘special funds’ of the federal government, from which it wants to pay electricity subsidies for industry, for example, after initially borrowing a lot of money to destroy the reliable energy supply in Germany.”

Berlin, we have a problem

 

Another green energy failure.
North German Green Hydrogen Project Halted Due To Lack Of Economy…”Major Economic Risks”
By P Gosselin on 22. November 2023

Never-ending green energy woes: high construction costs… uneconomical…”associated major economic risks”


Source: westkueste100

Hydrogen will be the technology that will ultimately solve all the world’s energy woes, so claim those who are finally realizing that a lithium battery powered economy is a pipe dream after all. And, so must the green economy show go on.

But not so fast. Hydrogen has its drawbacks

Blackout News reports that the green hydrogen project Westküste 100 in Heide, Germany, has been “halted prematurely”. The reason: It’s just plain uneconomical. Obviously, despite having been told hundreds of times already, planners are just finding out that energy from green hydrogen is just too expensive.

According to the Westküste 100 press release: “After intensive examination of all general conditions, the joint venture will not make a positive investment decision. This is due to the increased investment costs and the associated major economic risks.”. . . .

 

Another bad idea fails.
The Biomass Mirage: Unveiling the Reality Behind Enviva’s Downfall
Charles Rotter
Biomass is often touted as sustainable, yet this is a gross oversimplification.

A recent Mongabay article on Enviva, the world’s largest biomass energy company teetering on the brink of collapse, provides a case study in the pitfalls of the renewable energy sector. This situation isn’t just about business; it’s a stark illustration of the flawed logic often found in climate action narratives.

The forest biomass energy industry took a major hit this month, as Enviva, the world’s largest producer of wood pellets — burned in former coal power plants to make energy on an industrial scale — saw catastrophic third quarter losses. Enviva’s stock tanked, its CEO was replaced and the company seems near collapse.


Enviva’s model, centered on converting trees to wood pellets for energy, is based on a contentious and, arguably, flawed concept. Biomass is often touted as sustainable, yet this is a gross oversimplification. As the article points out,

“Enviva converts millions of tons of trees into wood pellets,”

highlighting the environmental cost of this ‘green’ energy. . . . .

 

Offshore wind is another bad idea.
Offshore Wind cannot be justified
Guest Blogger
From CFACT David Wojick
Paul Driessen and I just finished a study on the impact of offshore wind developments on CO2 emissions, since emission reduction is their primary justification. Turns out global emissions from mining, processing, manufacturing and transportation offset any reductions from power production. . . . .

 

The end of the net-zero fantasy is in sight.

The Green Energy Wall Gradually Coming Into Focus
November 24, 2023/ Francis Menton

• 
  It’s been obvious for many years that electricity generation from the intermittent wind and sun would never work to power a modern economy. But how would the infeasibility of the proposed energy transition finally manifest itself to put an end to the madness?
  
  
• A couple of years ago I began writing about the the upcoming “Renewable Energy Wall,” for example in this piece from December 2021 titled “Which Country Or U.S. State Will Be The First To Hit The Renewable Energy Wall?” I called for readers to place their bets as to which among various jurisdictions would be the first to recognize that it could never achieve the net zero goal.
  
  
• But what would be the aspects of reality that would put an end to further renewable development? Would it be the soaring costs? Or perhaps the spreading blackouts? Or maybe the voters wising up? Or maybe other things that nobody had yet guessed?
  
  
• Over the past few weeks and months, several parts of the coming Green Energy Wall have started to come into focus.
  

READ MORE

 

The Chinese Communist Party stated a few weeks ago that it didn't make any sense to eliminate fossil fuel power available 24/7 with wind and solar because the intermittent power by those two results in a destabilization of their power grid. So much for giving Red China decades of time to convert to wind and solar. They aint'd doing it. But they are most happy to sell solar panels and wind turbines to the western democracies governed by climate catastrophe fanatics.

 

Cheap renewable energy costs a lot.
Net Zero Electricity Fantasies to Cost British Consumers £100 Billion Over Next Six Years
Guest Blogger
Net Zero electricity taxes and levies are set to cost British consumers almost £100 billion over the next six years, according to the latest official figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility…

 

Low income Germans who have to decide whether to eat or heat their homes can attest to that.

 

Heat pump conversions are expensive.

Some More Energy Reality In New York City
November 28, 2023/ Francis Menton

• 
  New York thinks it is going to be the “leader” in showing the world how to transition away from fossil fuels to “green” energy. Our politicians and bureaucrats have not bothered with things like feasibility studies or demonstration projects showing that this can be done, because after all they are geniuses and it is up to the little people to figure out the details.
  
  
• So the energy transition has been ordered up via statutes filled with mandates and deadlines and penalties, with no attention paid to feasibility or cost. We now all get to sit back and watch as this crashes and burns.
  
  
• In New York City, the main statute on this subject, enacted in 2019, has the title of Climate Mobilization Act, also known as Local Law (LL) 97. The most significant impending mandates are for reductions in “emissions” from buildings, with the first deadline for residential buildings coming right up in January 2024. Few building will fail the 2024 cap, but the mandated emissions limits keep ratcheting down over time. The mandate for 2030 for residential buildings over 25,000 square feet is set such that it cannot be met if the building continues to use gas or oil for heat; so effectively this is a mandate to convert to electric heat by that time.
  
  
• So how big a problem will it be for these buildings to convert to electric heat? Nobody really knows. However, things are about to change.
  

READ MORE

 

Another fine example of idiots steering the government ship. Hopefully they understand that heat pumps don’t work so well in very cold ambient temperatures unless coil defrosters are included in the design.

 

Some lessons are resisted.
No Amount Of Subsidies Will Ever Make A Wind/Solar Electricity System Economically Feasible
November 30, 2023/ Francis Menton

• 
  The COP 28 climate confab opened today in Dubai. Some 70,000 true believers in the energy transition are said to be gathering. And not one of them appears to be either willing or able to do the simple arithmetic that shows that this can’t possibly work.
  
  
• So far, no country that has made a commitment to “net zero” has officially backed off. (Argentina may soon become the first.). Things proceed as if all that is needed is to build sufficient wind and solar generation facilities, until eventually you have enough of them to meet demand.
  
  
• But that’s not how this works. The absurdity becomes more obvious every day. Can somebody please tell the poor people making fools of themselves in Dubai?
  
  
• Let’s consider the latest from Germany.
  

READ MORE

 

When the sun isn’t shining and wind isn’t blowing and there is insufficient energy storage capacity it doesn’t matter how much wind and solar capacity is available. Fifth graders can figure this out.

 

Spin a turbine, kill a whale.
NAS study raises concern over offshore wind harming endangered whales
Guest Blogger
The proper course of action is to put this research ahead of any more offshore wind construction, not after it. . . .

 

Same old, same old duly noted.

Individual homeowners are realizing that for LESS than the cost of a new ICE SUV they can convert to SOLAR and SAVE the COST of SEVERAL new ICE vehicles in the coming decades.

At least 8% have ALREADY made this DECISION and almost 40% are CONSIDERING it.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-r...-panel-adoption-continues-to-rise-in-the-u-s/

 

Wow! A whole 8%!

That's definitely a game changer.

 

CONSUMERS are the KEY to success or failure in the market.

They pay their UTILITY BILLS and if they can SAVE the cost of several SUV's after a ONE TIME investment that is LESS than an SUV they would be foolish to NOT do something that is in their OWN best interests.

In 20 years homes WITHOUT some form of Green Energy will be hard to find.


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2014...en-will-impact-housing-over-the-next-20-years

 

Pick a side. It's not credible to cite consumers in one thread and the Chinese command economy in another.

 

Ask low income families in Germany how that Green energy is turning out for them.

Eat or Heat is not a decision that should have to be considered in a highly developed country the 21st century.

 

Wow, an article 9 years old predicting how green will impact housing over the next 20 years (soon to be 10).

Makes that 8% even more impressive.

 

You mean the Chinese economy that is doing a whole lot BETTER than the one that is OWNED by the GREED obsessed Wall Street Casino Banksters?