Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized 6 Jul 2017

U.S. Shale Revolution Has Arrived In Britain

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

The UK is set to receive its first big US liquefied natural gas shipment this week, as growing US supplies of the super-cooled fuel find new buyers in Europe.

The LNG cargo from the Sabine Pass facility in the Gulf of Mexico will arrive at the Isle of Grain terminal around July 8, according to industry sources. The cargo has been loaded on to the Maran Gas Mystras tanker, chartered by France’s Total.

As European countries seek to reduce their reliance on Russian pipeline gas, US LNG supplies could provide one alternative in the coming years amid greater focus on energy security.

“Aside from pipeline gas, the UK and Europe have relied on LNG from Algeria, Nigeria and Qatar. The US in time to come will provide another option,” said Ed Cox, editor of Global LNG Markets at ICIS, which provides pricing information and market analysis.

The latest cargo he said comes as demand for spot cargoes in the global market is weak and Europe is the market for last resort.

“We’ve been expecting the UK to take cargoes, it’s just taken longer than expected,” he said, adding that the Sabine Pass plant that began shipping cargoes last year had already sent LNG elsewhere in Europe such as Portugal and Spain.

After decades of being a big importer of natural gas, the US is to be a net exporter because of the country’s bumper production caused by the development of previously uncommercial shale reserves.

Full post

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

July 6, 2017 at 08:44AM

Uncategorized 6 Jul 2017

Germans’ Electric Bills Soar While Their Climate Policy Sinks

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

‘The Dirty Man of Europe’

RC has recently covered the folly of the Paris Climate Accord here and here. But the reaction from Europe—particularly Germany—after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Accord was swift and hostile. Not only did Merkel’s “Munich beer tent speech” call into question the future of the Western alliance, the front page of the tabloid Berliner Kurier announced “Earth to Trump: F*** You.”

Since the Cold War, German policymakers have distrusted nuclear options—both in weapons and energy sources. In the 1990s, pacifists joined forces with environmentalists to form the now powerful Green Party, and they, along with the Social Democrats passed the most sweeping environmentalist law in history in 2000. The Renewable Energy Sources Act, (known as the EEG German) provided plump subsidies to green energy companies, homeowners and farmers willing to invest in renewable energy. To pay for it, Germans paid a surcharge on their electric bills to cover the funds making up the difference between the market rate of energy and the more expensive renewables.

Among the government’s goals were a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (compared to 1990) and a 55-60 percent share of renewables in power consumption by 2035.

The result? From outward appearances, this energy reform initially looked largely like a smashing success as the German countryside became dotted with fields of windmills and solar paneled, village skylines. Germany quickly became known as “the green man of Europe.”

However, new research shows the actual results paint a completely different picture. According to a paper by German think tank Agora Energiewende, the 40 percent reduction goal will be missed and the 2035 goal has become “unachievable.” This after Germans have spent an extra 300 Euros per person, per year in additional power bill costs on the scheme.

Handelblatt Global. Image via goo.gl/Ho587U

To make matters worse from an environmental standpoint, Germany has pushed out natural gas and turned more than ever toward coal plants — specifically those run on lignite, the dirtiest coal available — to make up the price difference.

Besides green energy, two other points of German pride are their fast cars and efficient manufacturing, both of which undermine expensive efforts to go green. Merkel has even pushed for lower European standards on vehicle emissions that are difficult to achieve. (Remember that German carmaker Volkswagen recently agreed to pay out $14.7 billion for cheating on U.S. emissions tests.)

All of this, combined with Merkel’s decision to phase out nuclear power completely after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, has effectively cancelled out the gains made by the German government to lower carbon emissions through renewable energy subsidies. According to Oxford economist David Helm, Germany has actually become the “dirty man of Europe.”