The Australian Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exploded our renewables myth (theaustralian.com.au) Every day, the world spends more than $1bn buying fossil fuels from Russia. Ending this reliance has revealed the largely untrue story we have been sold about an alternative. By BJORN LOMBORG, 11th March 2022 Our continued use of Kremlin-backed oil & gas reveals two inconvenient truths. First, reliable energy maintains the foundation of modern society and few are willing to give up its benefits. Access to cheap, abundant & dependable energy has been the cornerstone of the industrial revolution & humanity’s achievements.
The controversial Nord Stream 2 undersea pipeline to pump natural gas directly from Russia to northern Germany, is owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned Gazprom.
The devastating Russian invasion of Ukraine has captured global attention. While the world’s focus is rightly on the human toll & suffering, the crisis has highlighted the need to end reliance on Russian oil & gas. To achieve that ambition, we must be pragmatic & invest in sensible alternatives, not engage in wishful thinking about renewable energy. Every single day, the world spends more than $US1bn on buying fossil fuels from Russia. As Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, that money is now paying for the “murder of Ukrainian men, women & children”. We must end this reliance. However, this has proven easier said than done: over dozens of years, the world has exchanged trillions of dollars for fossil fuels from the Soviet Union and now from Russia.
Second, we have been sold a largely untrue story that renewables can give us energy independence. Campaigners & governments have promoted the idea that renewables could replace fossil fuels & still provide cheap, abundant & reliable energy, which would crucially deliver energy security while solving the challenge of global warming. The Russian invasion has exploded this myth & revealed it as nothing more than wishful thinking – especially for the members of the European Union. For decades, the EU has claimed that renewables can deliver energy security because this can be produced at home & does not need to be imported. But the key renewables solar & wind are unreliable because they only work when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. To achieve reliable power 24/7, solar & wind need back-up provided by gas. Thus, the EU’s green energy policy contributes to it paying Russia more than half a billion US dollars each day, mostly for fossil fuels & especially gas, to provide a backstop for European solar & wind.
Russian invasion of Ukraine explodes Renewables Myth – Bjorn Lomborg, The Oz 11th Mar 2022
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Currently, 60 per cent of the EU’s total renewable energy comes from burning wood pellets. The takeaway is that we alternatives to Russian oil.
A pressure gauge & valve control wheel sits on outdoor pipework at the underground gas storage facility operated by RWE AG in Dolni Dunajovice, Czech Republic.
Solar & wind campaigners claim that batteries can be gamechangers when the sun isn’t shining & the wind isn’t blowing. In truth, all the batteries in Europe can store power for just one minute & 21 seconds of the continent’s average electricity demand – after that we’re back to relying mostly on fossil fuel backup. For comparison, in winter, Germany can experience wind lulls lasting more than five days. Moreover, electricity makes up just a fifth of Europe’s overall energy consumption, nearly three-quarters of which is met by gas & other fossil fuels. Despite the hype, solar & wind deliver less than 4 per cent of Europe’s total energy. When German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insists renewables will make Germany “independent and less susceptible to blackmail” he is missing the point, because inefficient solar & wind don’t avoid cold homes. Electricity only delivers a tiny part of heating, with gas providing almost 40 per cent. Much more energy comes from the world’s oldest energy source, burning wood. While in principle renewable, increasing the amount of forests being cut down can have huge biodiversity impacts. Moreover, wood emits more CO2 than coal when burned & is often imported & transported on diesel ships from the US.
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Germany just shut down three nuclear power plants & will be shutting down three more by the end of the year. But shutting down such existing nuclear power plants is plain dumb. All the big costs have already been incurred, so keeping them running not only delivers energy independence but provides incredibly cheap, reliable & CO2-free power.
People keep warm by fires outside the main rail terminal in Lviv, Ukraine.
Europe should also reconsider producing its own natural gas through fracking, like the US did. It has plenty of potential sites in Poland, France & Romania. Fracking could deliver cheap energy, complete energy independence & has reduced US emissions dramatically. While there are genuine concerns around fracking, most can be addressed with good regulation. Unfortunately, most of Europe has rejected fracking because of exaggerated fears, spread with financial help from Russia. Yet, US studies clearly show the overall benefits from fracking vastly outweigh additional costs. To achieve true independence, we need to look further & study realistic alternatives. We must demand more than breezy aspirations for more solar & wind. We need to invest in research & development across a wide range of potential energy sources.
Russian invasion of Ukraine explodes Renewables Myth – Bjorn Lomborg, The Oz 11th Mar 2022
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For example, while building more of the current third-generation nuclear would deliver safe & reliable energy, its construction is currently way too expensive. R&D into fourth-generation nuclear could potentially let us generate massive amounts of power at low cost. Concerted research will not only deliver needed energy independence but will also offer a realistic solution to the long-term climate problem.
This research will take time, so for the short run, fracking is the most pragmatic option. With sensible regulations, it could generate plentiful cheap gas & huge economic benefits, while reducing emissions. Crucially, in the shadow of Putin’s war, this could be a relatively quick & realistic way for Europe to move toward energy independence.
Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus & Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His latest book is False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.
Some highly relevant Comments that followed Kristine If Morrison had the stomach to run on a HELE coal fired power station and dam building platform, he would romp it in at the election. Unfortunately, he's too busy trying to appease those who will never vote for him no matter what he promises them. Liked 247
Kristine Yes, well that's 6 hours out of 24. Stop subsidising renewables, take the losses in the 6 hours if true. Into the future, learning from Europe, it should be about energy security, industry and base load reliability. Liked 6
Pat White Agree how ridiculous - we listened to the greenies and built desalination plants because it would never rain again when we should have been building dams. It is circular nonsense of grand proportions Liked 67
MJ from Sydney Common sense, but it’s coming from Bjorn Lomborg, who the renewable lobby and climate change extremists hate more than Putin, so they will ignore the message, no matter how sensible it might be. Liked 183
The Peril The way that the energy market has been set up by the AEMC (bidding in 5-minute intervals) makes it impossible for a coal fired power station to operate profitably. That is how the AEMC & AEMO can say, with hand on heart, that they do not favour renewables.
Evan Do not worry, energy prices are the elephant in the room. The back tracking of the woke NATO countries will just reinforce it. All will show how little 'renewables' enable us to keep warm, surf the internet and charge our devices when we want to. It will become very evident. Liked 24
They just set up the market rules so that coal (and nuclear for that matter) cannot compete. BTW, those same rules make it uneconomic to put your spare cash into maintaining/refurbishing an existing coal fired power station. That is why the owners are running them into the ground and closing them early. Liked 29 Anna The big problem is renewables have made the spot price of power between 10:00am and 4:00pm almost zero. Coal plants are losing money during these hours. So, you need to either have intermittent renewables paying money for their unreliability, or switch over to fast cycle gas generation. Batteries are still dinky toys. Liked 5
Timothy Mr Lomborg shows such common sense and wisdom, it's no wonder that Australian egg-head academics black-banned him from Australian universities. We can't have any wisdom or insight emerging from an Australian university, can we? Liked 169 Marcus It’s increasing obvious Bjorn why they canned your proposed University course here in Australia. You make WAY too much sense. You would just confuse the little darlings Liked 148 Rick It is also increasingly obvious why Bjorn received no support from the PM at that time - Turnbull.
Russian invasion of Ukraine explodes Renewables Myth – Bjorn Lomborg, The Oz 11th Mar 2022
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Liked 88 Anna A voice of reason in a sea of stupidity. The other half. Liked 141 Mandy Writing in The Spectator, Alan Moran expands on the subterfuge: Russian funds have been sent to the Sea Change Foundation which then moves the money in the form of grants to other non-profit environmental groups to assist in local opposition to fracking. And a study by the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies reported that the Russian government has invested $95 million in Non-Government Organisations that seek to persuade EU governments to end shale gas exploration.
Fossil fuel competitors and big fish trawling nations nearly stole away the sovereignty of our Australian Great Barrier Reef because you have all become so muddleheaded! Liked 4 Peter It makes my heart sing to read a great article like this. But even more so to read all the comments. I am not alone in my understanding of the folly of ‘unreliables ’❤️ Liked 119
And notes some countries are waking up, others not: Although the Europeans are recognising the price their ideological attachment to renewables has brought, not everyone is on board. The White House Press Secretary Jan Psaki and John Cassidy in the New Yorker are among those supporting a doubling down of the ‘clean energy’ policies that have contributed so much to the West’s diminished industrial strength by attacking cheap energy with measures incorporated in Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ agenda. The Republicans have already written to Biden demanding he rescind the anti-fossil fuel measures he has introduced. Germany and other European nations have already gone much further down the renewables track, as has Australia, which is locked-in to go further towards Net Zero emissions. Australia has thickets of regulatory barriers to new energy projects and, under an ALP Government, will progressively increase carbon taxes on the 270 most energy-intensive activities. German politicians and those of nations like Japan are pragmatically shifting tack and re-embracing fossil fuels and nuclear power. Unfortunately, at present Australia has just a handful of politicians in the minor parties and the Nationals that are seeking such a change of course. Yep, on the mission-critical topic of energy the only Coalition Matt who gets it is Canavan. Not Keane! Liked 134 toby A delusional belief to think that intermittent renewables will do anything but increase mining industry transport and land use doing far more very real environmental damage. Liked 17 Erzsebet Hear, hear Mandy! Please wake up dopey climate change Australian activists, you have been long manipulated!
Russian invasion of Ukraine explodes Renewables Myth – Bjorn Lomborg, The Oz 11th Mar 2022
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