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The major error isn't a tactical one but a strategic one. Until recently, interest rates have been at historical lows for over a decade. Governments should have
by rcarr 4y ago
The major error isn't a tactical one but a strategic one. Until recently, interest rates have been at historical lows for over a decade. Governments should have taken advantage of that to embark on massive scale investments in producing energy self sufficiency. We could have had a government funded scheme to put free solar panels on every single roof and a wall battery in every home. Then we would not be having the issues we are having right now. The majority of domestic energy use would be handled and we would only have to find the energy for industrial, which we could do with wind, solar farms and nuclear. The investment would pay for itself: if households no longer have energy bills to pay, they suddenly have a wad of extra cash each month that they will most likely spend which HMRC can enjoy taking it's VAT cut on (and most likely at 20% rather than the 5% they charge for fuel).
So why didn't we do this? The cynic in me thinks it's because despite the progress we've made, the energy companies are still the ones with most power in this world and they are desperate not to give any of it up. Embarking on a program like this would be a massive redistribution of power and wealth to the common folk. The day when there is a solar panel on every roof will happen but the energy companies will do everything in their power to prevent it. They even tried getting legislation through in America to tax households with solar panels installed to make up for their lost revenue.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/13/solar-power-us-utility-companies-kansas https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/13/solar-power-...
- towaway15463 4y agoThe German economy would still implode without natural gas as a feed stock and wither goes Germany goes the EU.
- rcarr 4y agoWould it though if Angela Merkel et al hadn't banned nuclear energy and spent 16 years cosying up to Putin instead of setting up some back up plans?
- towaway15463 4y agoYes unless they started making their own gas out of electricity and air which is still economically unlikely even with nuclear power. The German petrochemical industry is not a small potatoes thing.
- rcarr 4y agoIf they had built nuclear power plants even just to cover domestic use would that not have alleviated some of the pressure they’re now facing on the gas front though? Covering industrial and domestic is clearly harder than just having to cover industrial. Yes France doesn’t have as much heavy industry as Germany but they’re weathering the storm much better and I don’t think we can ignore the fact that a lot of that is to do with the fact they’re pretty much the only Western European country that’s taken nuclear power seriously. I do applaud Germany for the strides they’ve made with green energy but making nuclear illegal before they’d transitioned further along the green energy road is looking like a very bad move with hindsight. Regardless, Russia have been in the Donbass and Crimea since 2014. That European countries and Germany in particular, have decided to increase their reliance on Russian gas since then rather than set up some serious back up plans is really rather complacent.