The energy thread

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Drill, baby, drill!

Mine, baby, mine!

No, baby, no! (Green mantra).

Blow, wind, blow!

Shine, sun, shine!


And now everybody:
Ichfühlmichgutichfühlmichtollichfühlmicheinfachwun dervoll!

[Jimbuna]

Reminds me of the Elton John song 'Candle in the Wind'

[Jimbuna]

Middle earners, as well as low earners, are likely to need government help to pay their energy bills this winter, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has warned.

The energy regulator hiked the price cap on household bills by 80% on Friday, meaning the average bill will rise to £3,549 a year from October.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Zahawi said even those earning £45,000 a year may need support.

He said the Treasury was exploring "all the options" to help households.

He added that the country was in a "national economic emergency [that] could go on for 18 months, two years".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62695778

[Skybird]

The crisis burns itself deep into the German middle class. It is expected that next year energy costs will equal if not surpass cold flat rents for many ordinary households. Millions will not be able to cope with the financial burdens.

The Greens' recipe: print more money and drop it from helicopters. They even say the troubles will worsten nd will stay for many years to come, but adaptation of their policies and giving up stupid ideology-hardened mind-fortresses? Nononononono. No, never. Noooo. No. No-no-no. NO. In a few weeks or months maybe they will agree to let those three powerpploants run - and then find that they have wasted 8 months and so will not get nuclear fuel in time. If they would have agreed in april, in Oc tober nuclear fuelp could have been dleivered, says the industry. Of course, they will say that companies are evil, fate was against them, they could not have known, it is democratic debate, it is so hard for them, and that they are not guilty for this part of the mess.

Well, I said since many years that it is the Green agenda to deindustrialise Germany and to destroy everything heavy industry in this country, and better evertyhing science and market as well, since one is at it. Ideology yes, science no. And I never meant my rants as an exaggeration, but as a fact. Many Green followers welcome the crisis today for it does what they always wanted to acchieve: it brings down the industry they hate so much. "Und nach uns die Sintflut..."

But this is only because they have never imagined the consequences for themsleves once the crisis has corroded so deep into society that they themsleves are affected, too.

I hope that this winter it really crunches and cracks in the woodwork and that half the roof comes down and falls on more than just a few heads. The more violent, the better, because that might finally teach people some sense. Gender star? Gender quotas? With it still so many waste their time and energy...? Dear friends, it's high time that fate kicks you in the ass so firmly and with a running start.

What has begun these days, this year, that will not be over in only three, four years. I expect at least a decade of severe crisis. At least. In Germany in particular, because here the ideological meanness comes to bear three times as hard as elsewhere.

Burn, crisis, burn. The less people can escape it, the better. Misery teaches the best lessons.

[Jimbuna]

The next prime minister will tackle "eye-watering" energy bills, Boris Johnson has said, amid criticism that he has failed to respond to the crisis.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson said his successor would deliver a "huge package" of support.

Charities and experts have called on the government to announce more support as a matter of urgency.

Conservative Party leadership candidate Liz Truss is reported to be considering a 5% cut to VAT.

A report in the Sunday Telegraph suggests she is looking at the move as a "nuclear" option and says it could save the average household £1,300 a year. But a spokesperson for her campaign said it would not be right for her to announce any plans at this stage.

Rishi Sunak's team has dismissed a cut to all VAT as "incredibly regressive", saying it would cost more than £30bn.

Mr Sunak, who is vying with Ms Truss to become the next prime minister, has said he would cut VAT on energy bills and has promised targeted support for the most vulnerable.

On Friday, the energy regulator hiked the price cap on household bills by 80%, meaning the typical household gas and electricity bill will rise to £3,549 a year from October.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62703858

[Kapitan]

If I recall the UK used to get about 3% of its gas from Russia and with the rest of the EU now scratching around for alternative suppliers plus the inability of other suppliers to increase production it has left an entire gap in the market.

Energy bills have gone up around the world, and in Europe specifically Germany they have turned their back on one of the greenest energy sources.
While I get there is issues regarding nuclear waste on the whole the nuclear power generation gives off 0 carbon emissions plus gives you a secure domestic supply.

Therefore if Germany had kept the reactors on and built more their reliance on Russian Gas and Oil wouldn't have been such a big issue.
I guess that's why the EU is stalling in the implementations of sanctions against Russia.

The UK on the other hand has to import oil and gas from overseas like the EU, and right now its mainly coming from the USA and Norway.
But other EU countries have also been drawing on these two countries creating a higher than usual demand.

Both Oil and Gas are polluters it seems that Germanys vision and the EU climate change goals are all but gone, you simply cannot achieve 0 carbon emissions from gas.
You also cant sustain your energy needs with solar, tidal and wind you have to have a base load to work from and the only way I can see that can be achieved is to have nuclear as your base provider.

Here in Manitoba its not so bad nearly all our electricity comes from Hydro Electric which is the base load, then we have peak demand plants run by coal and gas.

So someone will now say I have contradicted myself because I have just said you cannot achieve 0 carbon emissions from renewable sources.

Well Manitoba is twice the size of Germany by land mass yet has a population of 1.4 million with around 800,000 of that population living in Winnipeg and another 200,000+ living in major towns in the south and only a few major high energy using industries.

Now Germany has a population of 83.2 million to give you an idea that is 2.25 times the population of Canada (37.2 million) and has a lot of high energy using industries.

So why is this relevant? simply because each country has differing needs depending on Industry and population, Germany is a high energy user as is the UK and all of Europe.

Therefore with the move away from Russian supplied oil and gas this has put the demand for product elsewhere and as it was a fairly sudden change.
The producer doesn't have the ability to push a button and more comes out of the ground like many think it does in reality production has to be eased up gently.

Then you also have to think of the transportation network, while Europe is largely supplied by pipeline its not the case if that oil and gas is coming from
the USA for example.

The sudden demand for oil and gas will have had a major effect on the markets, with Russian product now not supplying the market there's a big hole and this is why we saw demand out weight supply.

That balance is now being readdressed as other countries now take up the slack to produce more.

The futures market quotes in light sweet crude for example look reasonable but only time will tell.

https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/ene...de.quotes.html

The UK and Europe are not the only ones this is affecting, the UK news would have you believe this is all due to Brexit and only affecting the UK, well that's not the case.

I spend a lot of time in the USA I have seen fuel prices triple in the last 6-9 months the highest I have seen for Gas / Petrol is $7.29 a US Gallon (3.79 Liters) even Texas had fuel prices in excess of $5 a Gallon !

So this is nothing to do with brexit or covid it is simply supply and demand, the demand is there but the supply is not and Europe is not alone either.

My bill this month was $348CAD last month it was $244CAD and a year ago it was sitting around $150CAD

[Catfish]

^ Additionally almost all companies ride the wave of raising their prices, even if not affected at all. "Reasons" range from corona, market changes, delivery chains, China, Russia, Taiwan, Russia, war to "others do it too".

[sarcasm]
We can be sure that prices will go down again when the crises are over.
[/sarcasm]

edit brexit has indeed some consequnces. Buying spare parts or even cars in England has become too expensive, apart from english companies raising prices "just so" you now have to pay value added tax (double), additional export and import taxes, and fight all kinds of new barriers, that really are old ones from the times England was not in the EU. A spare part recently bought that used to cost around 17 pounds, is now at 80. Not again, guess will sell all the stuff.
A lot of automotive Companies (including vintage cars and parts dealers) want to stop trade or have already given up.