2 ms·

> spending €250B on a continental scale renewable energy project Let me stop you there: the EU budget for 2026 was €193B. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/budget/www/

by pjc50 8mo ago

> spending €250B on a continental scale renewable energy project Let me stop you there: the EU budget for 2026 was €193B. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/budget/www/index-en.htm https://eur-lex.europa.eu/budget/www/index-en.htm Basically Europe doesn't have political leadership, nor does the EU itself have a budget larger than the member states like the US Federal budget. In return, the EU, primarily Germany, has imposed "fiscal discipline" which prevents running a short term large deficit in order to make this kind of capital investment. Also, two hundred billion Euro is a lot of money for anyone who isn't an AI startup.

seydor 8mo ago
The EU is not funding projects directly, it's setting the rules. Individual governments pay the bill
- thibaut_barrere 8mo ago
  This is not entirely correct. The EU actually does both — it sets regulatory frameworks and funds projects directly through several mechanisms.
- toomuchtodo 8mo ago
  Is this perhaps changing with Macron indicating Europe will keep the €300B Europe has been investing in the US annually in Europe? Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722594 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722594 - January 2026 (207 comments) Europe can go fast when it wants to. How Europe Ditched Russian Fossil Fuels With Spectacular Speed - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-21/ukraine-news-europe-ditches-russia-fossil-fuels-with-surprising-speed https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-21/ukraine-n... | https://archive.today/yxGp2 https://archive.today/yxGp2 - February 21st, 2023 > But what the past year has shown is that it’s possible to go harder and faster in deploying solar panels and batteries, reducing energy use, and permanently swapping out entrenched sources of fossil fuel. > Solar installations across Europe increased by a record 40-gigawatts last year, up 35% compared with 2021, just shy of the most optimistic scenario from researchers at BloombergNEF. That jump was driven primarily by consumers who saw cheap solar panels as a way to cut their own energy bills. It essentially pushed the solar rollout ahead by a few years, hitting a level that will be sustained by EU policies.
WarmWash 8mo ago
What is the value of the EU if's it not coordinating multi-national scale efforts? This would need to be a joint venture as some places are really good for wind, and some places are really good for solar, but not every country on their own has access to those locations. The budget for the EU doesn't matter, because this project would be a separate line item with it's own funding. Energy independence is extremely valuable. Way way way more valuable then $250B or even $500 or $750B for that matter. Society runs on energy, and if it's not fully yours, you are always a rug pull away from social collapse. If 2022 was a cold winter, and America had a cold leader, this project probably would have breezed through the bureaucracy in a week.
- ben_w 8mo ago
  > What is the value of the EU if's it not coordinating multi-national scale efforts? Remember the EU is just a fancy self-updating free trade agreement, not a nation. The coordination that the member states have thus far allowed the EU to take responsibility for is ~ "make all our rules be equivalent so everyone's degrees are accepted everywhere, everyone's food is accepted everywhere, we all agree what counts as a safe consumer product, limited range for tax shenanigans, etc." (And for this, they get denounced as "complex" and "bureaucratic"). Actual direct investments do also exist, I just missed out on one for startups 20 years back apparently due to a rules change, but it's peanuts compared to what member state governments do directly.
- ponector 8mo ago
  >> Energy independence is extremely valuable. Not if your top politicians are on putin's payrol like Orban and Merkel.

by pjc50 8mo ago

seydor 8mo ago

The EU is not funding projects directly, it's setting the rules. Individual governments pay the bill

thibaut_barrere 8mo ago
This is not entirely correct. The EU actually does both — it sets regulatory frameworks and funds projects directly through several mechanisms.
toomuchtodo 8mo ago
Is this perhaps changing with Macron indicating Europe will keep the €300B Europe has been investing in the US annually in Europe? Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722594 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722594 - January 2026 (207 comments) Europe can go fast when it wants to. How Europe Ditched Russian Fossil Fuels With Spectacular Speed - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-21/ukraine-news-europe-ditches-russia-fossil-fuels-with-surprising-speed https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-21/ukraine-n... | https://archive.today/yxGp2 https://archive.today/yxGp2 - February 21st, 2023 > But what the past year has shown is that it’s possible to go harder and faster in deploying solar panels and batteries, reducing energy use, and permanently swapping out entrenched sources of fossil fuel. > Solar installations across Europe increased by a record 40-gigawatts last year, up 35% compared with 2021, just shy of the most optimistic scenario from researchers at BloombergNEF. That jump was driven primarily by consumers who saw cheap solar panels as a way to cut their own energy bills. It essentially pushed the solar rollout ahead by a few years, hitting a level that will be sustained by EU policies.

WarmWash 8mo ago

What is the value of the EU if's it not coordinating multi-national scale efforts? This would need to be a joint venture as some places are really good for wind, and some places are really good for solar, but not every country on their own has access to those locations. The budget for the EU doesn't matter, because this project would be a separate line item with it's own funding. Energy independence is extremely valuable. Way way way more valuable then $250B or even $500 or $750B for that matter. Society runs on energy, and if it's not fully yours, you are always a rug pull away from social collapse. If 2022 was a cold winter, and America had a cold leader, this project probably would have breezed through the bureaucracy in a week.

ben_w 8mo ago
> What is the value of the EU if's it not coordinating multi-national scale efforts? Remember the EU is just a fancy self-updating free trade agreement, not a nation. The coordination that the member states have thus far allowed the EU to take responsibility for is ~ "make all our rules be equivalent so everyone's degrees are accepted everywhere, everyone's food is accepted everywhere, we all agree what counts as a safe consumer product, limited range for tax shenanigans, etc." (And for this, they get denounced as "complex" and "bureaucratic"). Actual direct investments do also exist, I just missed out on one for startups 20 years back apparently due to a rules change, but it's peanuts compared to what member state governments do directly.
ponector 8mo ago
>> Energy independence is extremely valuable. Not if your top politicians are on putin's payrol like Orban and Merkel.