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German Government May Abandon Green Energy Transition

More Coal, More Gas, More Nuclear



The German government no longer believes in the green energy transition. Doubts are growing in the ruling coalition government that the ecological project can succeed. -- Berliner Morgenpost, 27 May 2012
Rising electricity prices are a growing worry for North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft (Social Democrats, SPD). "I am very concerned about the competitiveness of our energy-intensive industry," Kraft told the newspapers of the WAZ-Group. For many industries, including chemical, steel, aluminium or cement, the electricity price is a key cost factor. The SPD politician pleaded for the construction of new coal-fired power plants. "We will continue to need fossil fuel plants as a bridge technology," she said. After all, the Social Democrats had strengthened their vote in the recent state election because of the SPD's very aggressively support for industry. --Die Welt, 25 May 2012 Chancellor Angela Merkel has tasked Germany’s new environment minister to save the green energy transition. But doubts are growing among German policy makers and business leaders if it can succeed at all. The plan to increase the share of renewable energies to 40 percent in ten years’ time when the last German nuclear power plants should be phased out was "a very ambitious goal," says the Rainer Brüderle, the leader of the parliamentary Free Democrats (FDP). "We will have to build a whole range of new gas-and coal-fired power plants - perhaps more than we first thought." Germany’s most ambitious project is on the brink. At the weekend, the Chancellor admitted candidly that her big project has been delayed. With regards the large transmission networks, "many projects are in delay," Merkel said. --Jochen Gaugele and Claus Christian Malzahn, Welt am Sonntag, 27 May 2012

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The vice chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, Michael Fuchs, is already thinking about a delay of the nuclear phase-out. Personally, he will not make the demand for longer life extensions for nuclear power plants - the topic is seen as taboo in the CDU since Fukushima. Instead, Fuchs points to the Green environment minister in Baden-Wurttemberg, Franz Untersteller. The green minister already conceded that "one or two nuclear power plants may have to run longer than planned." --Jochen Gaugele and Claus Christian Malzahn, Welt am Sonntag, 27 May 2012 UK Energy plc is not in the best of hands. Quite honestly, the Muppets could have come up with a more coherent script than that contained in the coalition’s new energy bill. With investor interest in developing North Sea oil and gas fields running at an all-time high, and parts of the UK onshore and offshore sitting on potentially world class shale gas reserves, it beggars belief that David Cameron’s coalition partners could end up presenting UK energy as a bad news story. Somehow they managed it. --Peter Glover, The Commentator, 28 May 2012 We already know the British Geological Survey has said the original figures were being updated based on new information from the UK and the US, and had state there was "much more gas under Blackpool than we thought" last January. The report may still be six months away, but Tony Grayling said today that based on his conversations with the BGS, the revised figure was going to be close to a resource of 6 trillion cubic metres. Which is interesting in that is slightly higher than the Cuadrilla estimate of 200 TCF or 5.6 trillion CM. --Nick Grealy, No Hot Air, 23 May 2012 India may ban European carriers from flying into the country if the European Union includes airlines in its emissions control system, a senior Indian government official said Friday. "We will take retaliatory actions to counter steps taken by [the] EU. If Europe bans our carriers we will ban theirs as well," the official told reporters.Nikhil Gulati, The Wall Street Journal, 26 May 2012 The Pentagon's investment in green energy requires too much green paper for some in Congress. A sharply divided Senate Armed Services Committee voted this week to prohibit the military from spending money on alternative fuels if the cost exceeds traditional fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil. The move underscores congressional concern about the greater expense of clean energy sources such as biofuels as the Pentagon wrestles with smaller budgets. The committee, in crafting a sweeping defense budget for next year, also voted to block Pentagon construction of a biofuels refinery or any other facility to refine biofuels. --Donna Cassata, Associated Press, 25 May 2012 Secretary Panetta has a real war to win, and he should not be wasting time perpetrating President Obama's global warming fantasies or his ongoing war on affordable energy. At a time when the defense budget is being significantly reduced and the Pentagon is forced to make every dollar stretch even further, it is ludicrous for the DOD to spend billions of dollars on green energy projects. Instead, they should be using those funds on people, training and equipment. --Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, Associated Press, 25 May 2012


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