Will The EU class gas and nuclear As ‘Green’ Energy?

The European Union has led the way in transitioning from fossil fuels to “green” energy, i.e. wind and solar.

But that effort has hit a snag: wind and solar don’t work, and energy costs in the EU are skyrocketing.

Now a Reuters report suggests that the EU may be thinking about jumping ship:

The European Union has drawn up plans to label some natural gas and nuclear energy projects as “green” investments after a year-long battle between governments over which investments are truly climate-friendly.

A draft of the Commission’s proposal, seen by Reuters, would label nuclear power plant investments as green if the project has a plan, funds and a site to safely dispose of radioactive waste. To be deemed green, new nuclear plants must receive construction permits before 2045.

Investments in natural gas power plants would also be deemed green if they produce emissions below 270g of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour (kWh), replace a more polluting fossil fuel plant, receive a construction permit by Dec. 31 2030 and plan to switch to low-carbon gases by the end of 2035.

Now, IF CO2 is the alleged threat to the future of the planet the ‘greens’ claim it is, nuclear power is indisputably “green.”

Nuclear plants don’t emit CO2. Disposal of spent fuel rods is an issue, but a minor one–a ridiculously minor one if you believe the alternative is destruction of the planet.

That is why any environmentalist who doesn’t support nuclear power is an environmentalist who doesn’t actually believe the propaganda he spouts.

Likewise, natural gas emits far less CO2 than coal, and “green” advocates have in any case been building natural gas plants like there’s no tomorrow, because gas is what they burn most of the time, when wind and solar fail to produce electricity.

Meanwhile, the EU’s member countries are sharply split on energy issues:

Austria opposes nuclear power, alongside countries including Germany and Luxembourg. EU states including the Czech Republic, Finland and France, which gets around 70 percent of its power from the fuel, see nuclear as crucial to phasing out CO2-emitting coal fuel power.

It is notable that Germany has just announced that it will close three of its six nuclear power plants, even though German automakers reportedly have warned their government that they will not be able to compete in global markets if their energy costs continue to rise.

Maybe, for once, the French will save the Germans from themselves.

The fate of this particular EU proposal remains unknown, but the handwriting is on the wall.

The “green” dream of an economy powered exclusively (or even mostly) by wind and solar energy is impossible, not because of a lack of political will but because of the laws of physics.

The end of this story has already been written.

The question is how much wealth will be destroyed before greenies admit that their dreams have turned into nightmares.

See more here: powerlineblog.com

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Header image: Financial Times

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Comments (4)

  • Avatar

    Mervyn

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    Never did I ever think European and British nations would go insane over the great global warming swindle and lose their inability to apply common sense and logic. But that is what has happened.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Bill

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    CO2 is a narrative push after NOx was alleviated (reduced greatly tbh) at a lot of modern sites. Modern gas turbines that burn natural gas are really efficient and produce little NOx by using SCRs (ammonia injection grids and rare earth metal catalyst walls in the exhaust train). Nuclear power is and always will be a last ditch effort to reach the stars and when a failure happens, it’s just as dramatic. Fukushima is a massive global issues that no one talks about. Ask yourself why?

    I work in power generation. Gas turbines are our future if we choose to want one.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Robert Beatty

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    But CO2 in the atmosphere is always in balance with the sea surface temperature, according to Henry’s Gas Law – first enunciated in 1803.
    You can’t get more balanced than balanced.
    However if you do not understand basic science, you can sure talk about it a lot and get nowhere.
    The best energy solution is the cheapest one for your location, which is frequently coal.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Saighdear

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    Hmm, a lot of books and films will have to be re-written where the text refers to fossil gas – what that implied.

    Reply

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