German Energy Policy – A Page Out Of Crazy!

Germans are awesome but Gawd their government is f’ing dumb. Here they are implementing their new energy policies.

In the article “verdammt-dumm-germany-takes-stupid-to-a-new-level” last year when discussing Merkel we predicted that….

“she managed to form a coalition government that’ll now (because it’s left of left) pursue certain policies which are … how do the Germans say it… verdammt dumm.”

Verdammt dumm is about right. Here we are about 18 months later. 

“Reporting from Berlin —  Germany, one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal, will shut down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over the next 19 years to meet its international commitments in the fight against climate change, a government commission said Saturday.”

I do wonder who is running the ship these days, because it sure looks like they’re sailing close to the rocks. Whatever happened to logic based on facts? Now I’ll admit to not knowing in person any of the Germans who are setting the country’s energy policy but I’ve a strong suspicion they’re the sort of folks who wear socks with sandals, run for election at the local neighborhood watch program, and entertain themselves by peering through the curtains to see who’s visiting you for a BBQ on a Sunday afternoon. 

That they take advice then from adolescents with mental health issues, therefore, makes perfect sense. That they’re in charge doesn’t.

Case in point.

When the once-in-a-freaking-millennium event at the Fukushima reactor interacted with the amygdala of a clutch of ignorant morons concerned activists, it was too much for their little brains to comprehend and so the pressure was on. To do something! 

And so they did. 

But before we get to what they did, consider that the nuclear disaster killed a giant whopping total of nobody, while the tsunami claimed 16,000 lives. So they shuttered 12 of the country’s 19 nuclear plants. Because that makes sense doesn’t it? Why they didn’t just ban tsunamis’ we’ll never know.

They’re not stopping there though…oh no. Why go half Darwin when you can go full retard Darwin? They’re planning to shut all nuclear power plants by 2022. Ok, so no coal and no nuclear. Right got it.

Here’s their current energy mix.

The Crisis Of Germans

Germans, thanks to these insane policies now enjoy the most expensive electricity in Europe. 

It turns out that when you reduce the supply of something, the cost goes up. Ha – WhoWouldaThunkit?

According to Nature, the international science magazine, this year our German friends will fork out €20bn of their hard-earned Euros to subsidise electricity from solar, wind and biogas plants, power I will remind you with a real market price of just €3bn. If this sounds like a government-led version of WeWork that’s because it is.

Anyway despite these subsidies electricity prices have soared.

From the German climate and energy website 

Last year, almost five million people in Germany had problems paying their electricity bills” as some 4.8 million defaulting customers “were threatened” by power companies.

“As a consequence of unpaid bills, almost 344,000 households were temporarily cut off electricity during the same period. This marks new records,” the Freie Welt reports.

“Next increases already in the pipeline”

The situation for Germans will likely get a lot worse before it gets better. Less than a third of the country’s power is supplied by wind and sun, and as that share rises – as is planned – the costs will only continue to climb and make the hardship for the poor even worse.

“Three-quarters of the energy suppliers had raised their prices at the beginning of this year again on the average by five percent,” Writes Freie Welt. “The next increases are already in the pipeline.”

This is what happens when you take your cues from folks like this.

And yes those ridiculous outfits are made from plastic, as are the “zero emissions” containers, and those spectacles, and the floor they’re standing on, and the dishwasher behind them..and, and and.

There was a time in a land far away when the world treated folks like these appropriately. Which is to say like loonies. Today they drive western energy policy. Imagine.

And I can hear the hand wringing lefties already. “But Chris there is a price to pay for such heroics, we have a planet to save”. Sure Germany doesn’t have Alexander Cortez or a Greta thingymajig to lecture the masses insufferably on how disgraceful they all are. I don’t know who they have but what I do know is that even if this climate change thing wasn’t a giant hoax (it is) the results of what is being done to “fix” this are clearly rubbish.

Germany has been at this particular “we’re going to get rid of fossil fuels” gig for over a decade now and Germany’s CO2 levels have gone…wait for it…

Yup.

But let’s turn to this energy…because well it has to come from somewhere. Which brings me to…

Russia

We can’t think about Germany’s relationship with Russia without looking at natty gas dependency.

Germany is the world’s biggest natural gas importer and imports around 95% of the gas it consumes. That, in a word is dependency. Trade with today’s friend (Russia) can quickly turn into dependency upon tomorrow’s enemy. Oh well at least they’ve got 50% of their energy from domestic sources…coal and nuclear. Oh wait.

It’s worth remembering that the relative peace that Europeans have enjoyed since Bretton Woods has come about as a result of an American secured global structure. Just look at how military spending in Europe collapsed and you’ll realise that everyone agreed they could play nicely in the sandpit provided the teacher was watching. And so there was little need to spend on military.

It’s suicidal but understandable that now just as the Americans have been pulling back from maintaining this global order…ever since 1992 actually, that Germany has gone full throttle at increasing energy dependence and thus weakening their own geopolitical power within Europe. Truly loco. It’s like the guy at the party who realises it’s ending in half an hour and so binge drinks all he can. You just know that he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Which brings me to the European Union, which if we’re to be honest exists largely due to the fact that the US keeps them safe from each other and outside powers. Remember that’s what Nato was all about. On this topic read “NATO Is Obsolete – How It’s Coming to an End & What It Means” and The End Of NATO (Part 2): Why War Is Coming To Europe”

With Germany now fully integrated into Europe via supply chains, banking (German banks own a isht ton of member state debt) and politically (Pointy shoes in Brussels) unraveling this ball of yarn as the American layer of security and governance is throttled back opens up a yet unpriced reality. It comes crashing to earth. That is before we consider the disaster that is the Euro, the demographic time bomb that is much of Europe or indeed the refugee crisis.

What now?

  1. As energy costs rise, so too do all goods. Energy is involved in literally everything.
  2. The risk of a backlash from a populace who realise that their government has opened them up to massive risk and dominance from foreign powers is not to be underestimated. This will amongst other things entail resource nationalism.

And if you look at both of the above you’ll realise that there lies a dark topic that I suspect will be on everyone’s lips in a few years…but is not spoken about or even considered right now.

Shhh don’t say it too loud because right now you’ll be called a loon but that topic is stagflation. 

-Chris

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