Even If….

Researchers’ report from the prestigious German technology-focused universities

responding to nay-sayers on the potential of total renewable energy:

"While several of the issues raised by a [contrarian] paper are important,

you have to realise that there are technical solutions to all the points they raised using today's technology,"

says the lead author Dr. Tom Brown of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

"There are some persistent myths that 100 percent renewable systems are not possible,"

says Professor Brian Vad Mathiesen of Aalborg University.

"Furthermore, these solutions are absolutely affordable, especially given the sinking costs of wind and solar power,"

says Professor Christian Breyer of Lappeenranta University of Technology.

I picked German scientists for a reason. Germany shut down all of its nuclear power plants and elected to rely on Russian natural gas as a transition to full-on alternative energy. It is one of the hardest hit of European Union nations given its dramatic reliance on Russian gas, currently delivered by direct pipeline, and the eventual total cutoff because of the NATO/EU sanctions. German money for natural gas has been a significant source of capital for Putin’s war. Having pledged to shut down all of its nuclear power plants (seventeen total) after the 2011 meltdown in Japan Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, Germany went from generating 29.4% of its power from nukes in 2000 to 11% in 2021 to zero this year. Most such plants were demolished.

With nuclear power out of the picture, and coal fired plants shutting down as the worst greenhouse gas offenders, the European Union was prioritizing the replacement of fossil fuels, setting 2030 for a 55% reduction and 2050 for total carbon neutrality. German power generation from renewables is particularly impressive; almost half of all its electrical power is based on green energy this year… and growing fast. But then there’s the half that isn’t, a story that plays itself all over Europe, where cold winters in northern nations require heat… and heat needs energy. With coal out of the picture and nuclear plants falling into general disfavor, Europe obviously is not prepared to cut all fossil fuel power generation while coming to terms to an end of Russian natural gas.

Some experts suggest that even with aggressive use of renewables in power generation, the planet will fall 30% short of total dependence on green energy, in spite of what the above scientists say. What is likely to happen? Who knows, but, for example, Bill Gates is working on a new, safer form of nuclear power – based on liquified salt. However, it’s an expensive process that has yet to prove to be commercial feasible… not to mention the unpopularity of all things “nuclear,” particularly among European residents. Faced with severe energy shortfalls, the European Union is beginning to play word games. Adding natural gas to the litany of Europe’s “sustainable activities” is the hot topic at the EU Parliament.

“European Union lawmakers voted Wednesday [7/6] to include natural gas and nuclear in the bloc’s list of sustainable activities, backing a proposal from the EU’s executive arm that has been drawing fierce criticism from environmental groups and now looks set to trigger legal challenges.

.. The European Commission this year made the proposal as part of its plans for building a climate-friendly future, dividing member countries and drawing outcry from environmentalists over what they criticize as ‘greenwashing.’

“EU legislators from the environment and economy committees objected last month [June] to the plan, setting up Wednesday’s [7/6] decisive vote in Strasbourg, France. But members of the European Parliament rejected their resolution in a 328-278 vote, with 33 lawmakers abstaining. The result was announced to a salvo of applause… An absolute majority of 353 was needed to veto the proposal. If the European Parliament and member countries don’t object to it by July 11, the so-called taxonomy delegated act will enter into force and apply as of next year.

“Greenpeace immediately said it would submit a formal request for internal review to the European Commission, and then take legal action at the European Court of Justice if the result isn’t conclusive… ‘It’s dirty politics and it’s an outrageous outcome to label gas and nuclear as green and keep more money flowing to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war chest, but now we will fight this in the courts,” said Ariadna Rodrigo, Greenpeace’s EU sustainable finance campaigner… European Parliament rapporteur Bas Eickhout rued ‘a dark day for the climate and the energy transition.’” Samuel Petrequin and Raf Casert writing for the July 7th Associated Press.

With inaction and policy reversals in the United States and the UK, “It feels like the end game. In the US last week, the third perverse and highly partisan supreme court decision in a few days made American efforts to prevent climate breakdown almost impossible. Ruling in favour of the state of West Virginia, the court decided that the Environmental Protection Agency is not entitled to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power stations.

“The day before, in the UK, the government’s climate change committee reported a ‘shocking failure by Boris Johnson’s administration to meet its climate targets. So stupid and perverse are its policies on issues such as energy saving that it’s hard to see this as anything other than failure by design. On the day of the supreme court ruling, the UK government also announced that it intended to scrap the law protecting the UK’s most important wildlife sites.” George Monbiot writing for the July 6th Guardian UK. You also have to wonder how European sentiments might change if there is insufficient heating to make it through an expected very cold winter.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I have to remind us all that nature does not care if we freeze, drown, starve or bake to death from our inability to tackle the accelerating horrors of climate change.