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Germany gets a lot of flak for buying Russian gas cheaply the last 30 years in ever increasing volumes. But it seems strange to argue that Germany just should h

by oezi 4y ago

Germany gets a lot of flak for buying Russian gas cheaply the last 30 years in ever increasing volumes. But it seems strange to argue that Germany just should have bought gas from Qatar or the US for double the price from the start. How should Germany have done that? Import tax on Russian gas? Laws preventing importing cheap gas from the east? Sounds a bit aggressive towards our big neighbor to the east. Germans maybe were naive to think (up to until this summer) that Russia would need the money as much as we needed the gas. Still from the grand scheme of things (fossil fuels need to end anyway, gas is better than coal for climate, trade is better than no trade) the idea to partner with Russia made a lot of sense. Europe benefitted from cheap gas over the last decades and it will be somewhat affected by higher prices for this and next year, but it will accelerate the transition to renewables and strengthen nuclear in those countries in Europe where it is still an option. In the end it will push Europe in the right direction.

parkingrift 4y ago
>But it seems strange to argue that Germany just should have bought gas from Qatar or the US for double the price from the start. That was never on the table. The US doesn’t even have the export capacity to manage it. Germany should have pursued energy independence for the the European Union. It’s as simple as that.
- oezi 4y ago
  Whenever the Germany was critiqued on its Russian gas dependence by the US it was always brought up that Germany could rely more on US gas (from fracking if I recall). > Germany should have pursued energy independence for the European Union. It’s as simple as that. Nothing simple about that. Germany financed the first solar boom under the Green party before 2005 which cost German consumers a pretty penny (EEG Umlage). When Merkel got into power this renewables surcharge got so high that it was threatening consumers and industry. Merkel put on the brakes for renewables (which cost Germany pretty much all solar industry) and ushered in the Gas dependence. Only with expensive fossils do renewables have a chance in Europe. So the current prices do have at least one advantage and might eventually lead to the energy independence.

by oezi 4y ago

parkingrift 4y ago

>But it seems strange to argue that Germany just should have bought gas from Qatar or the US for double the price from the start. That was never on the table. The US doesn’t even have the export capacity to manage it. Germany should have pursued energy independence for the the European Union. It’s as simple as that.

oezi 4y ago
Whenever the Germany was critiqued on its Russian gas dependence by the US it was always brought up that Germany could rely more on US gas (from fracking if I recall). > Germany should have pursued energy independence for the European Union. It’s as simple as that. Nothing simple about that. Germany financed the first solar boom under the Green party before 2005 which cost German consumers a pretty penny (EEG Umlage). When Merkel got into power this renewables surcharge got so high that it was threatening consumers and industry. Merkel put on the brakes for renewables (which cost Germany pretty much all solar industry) and ushered in the Gas dependence. Only with expensive fossils do renewables have a chance in Europe. So the current prices do have at least one advantage and might eventually lead to the energy independence.