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EU resident here who hates the cold but will be wearing a down vest all winter. Yes, EU is facing an energy crisis due to reliance on Russian energy. How does

EU resident here who hates the cold but will be wearing a down vest all winter. Yes, EU is facing an energy crisis due to reliance on Russian energy. How does switching to a reliance on another non-sustainable energy source help? That just creates another energy crisis. We need to face up to having a few cold winters while we make the change, there really isn't any other good way forward. And on the bright side, while a few cold winters isn't comfortable, it is a heck of a lot less destructive than what our grandparents and great grandparents lived through during the "cultural readjustments" of 1914-1920 and 1939-1945. These things come 1-2 times/century. If you manage it well you come out better.

chaostheory 4y ago
For the people where a “vest” isn’t good enough, it buys them and their respective governments time to figure things out before the weak and vulnerable fall prey to short sighted energy policies
makomk 4y ago
There is no way to "make the change". The kinds of renewable energy that are broadly available in Europe, like wind and solar, are not a full replacement for existing fossil energy sources - they're simply too intermittent and the storage technology to deal with that does not exist. (The BBC has been falsely claiming otherwise, insisting that other energy sources are pointless and a waste of money by treating wind and solar as though they were direct GWh-for-GWh replacecments for natural gas and nuclear.) That's why biofuel burning is so common - not because it "creates a lot of profit for shareholders" but because politicians have to square the circle of keeping the lights on asnd homes warm whilst dealing with voter expectation that they switch to renewables that are fundamentally unable to do that. The UK opposition party released a "100% renewable energy by 2030" promise recently and if you look at how they plan on filling the gaps when there's not enough energy from the wind and sun, sure enough it's biofuels just the same as the current lot. Also, I don't think you quite grasp how catastrophic the energy crisis is in Europe - the entire continent is deindustralising because the energy supplies to keep modern industrial civilisation going are no longer there. There's a real risk that in a few years time Europe might no longer be part of the developed world if politicians do not change their path.
kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
Nuclear is sustainable. Start by not decommissioning them until you have established independent energy security.

chaostheory 4y ago

For the people where a “vest” isn’t good enough, it buys them and their respective governments time to figure things out before the weak and vulnerable fall prey to short sighted energy policies

makomk 4y ago

There is no way to "make the change". The kinds of renewable energy that are broadly available in Europe, like wind and solar, are not a full replacement for existing fossil energy sources - they're simply too intermittent and the storage technology to deal with that does not exist. (The BBC has been falsely claiming otherwise, insisting that other energy sources are pointless and a waste of money by treating wind and solar as though they were direct GWh-for-GWh replacecments for natural gas and nuclear.) That's why biofuel burning is so common - not because it "creates a lot of profit for shareholders" but because politicians have to square the circle of keeping the lights on asnd homes warm whilst dealing with voter expectation that they switch to renewables that are fundamentally unable to do that. The UK opposition party released a "100% renewable energy by 2030" promise recently and if you look at how they plan on filling the gaps when there's not enough energy from the wind and sun, sure enough it's biofuels just the same as the current lot. Also, I don't think you quite grasp how catastrophic the energy crisis is in Europe - the entire continent is deindustralising because the energy supplies to keep modern industrial civilisation going are no longer there. There's a real risk that in a few years time Europe might no longer be part of the developed world if politicians do not change their path.

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago

Nuclear is sustainable. Start by not decommissioning them until you have established independent energy security.