In the wake of Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine and the West’s rush to impose sanctions, followed by Russia’s response in cutting gas supplies, the supply of vital energy sources has been diminished for many countries.
Now political leaders worldwide are beginning to realize that all the green technologies that were supposed to replace fossil fuels aren’t up to the task, technologically speaking. Several nations are backtracking on their shuttering of coal plants.
Germany is firing up its coal plants again in preparation for the winter.
[German Economy Minister Robert] Habeck said security of supply was currently guaranteed in spite of a “worsened situation on the gas market” in recent days. Soaring prices were “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s strategy to unsettle us, drive up prices and divide us,” Habeck said.”We will not allow that. We are fighting back decisively, precisely and thoughtfully,” he said.Despite Germany’s plans to exit coal-fueled energy production, Habeck, who is a Green Party politician in the center-left ruling coalition, announced a return to “coal-fired power plants for a transitional period” in order to reduce gas consumption for electricity production.”We are setting up a gas substitute reserve on call. “That’s bitter, but it’s almost necessary in this situation to reduce gas consumption,” Habeck said.
The United Kingdom is keeping its coal plants open.
UK gas prices were up almost 50% last week alone. While the country only imports 4% of its gas from Russia, the market is exposed to prices in Europe where cuts to flows along a key pipeline are driving huge spikes in costs. Even environmentalists concede that higher emissions in the short term may be the cost of reducing reliance on Russian fuels in the longer term.“We have bigger problems to worry about,” said Dave Jones, a global electricity analyst at London-based climate think tank Ember. “The government is taking some decisions — like keeping a coal power plant open — that, to some people, look like a softening on fossil fuels. To me, it looks like a rational short-term decision to help keep the lights on.”
The Australian Resources Minister wants coal-fired plants back online to ease the energy crisis amid fears of an ‘expensive winter.’
Resources Minister Madeleine King wants coal-fired power station operators “to get moving on fixing their plants” which she views as key to helping ease the nation’s energy crisis, as consumers are warned of an “expensive” winter ahead.”In the very short term, what we really need to do is to have the coal power stations come back online because that is the missing piece of the puzzle right now,” Ms King told ABC radio on Tuesday.”There’s been unplanned outages for many reasons, many beyond the control of those operators and I do accept that, but I hope they’re doing their best to make sure this power source comes online as well.”
There is a climate crisis, and robust response is needed. However, it is a political climate crisis, not a fake meteorological one.
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