Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 15 2022

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM

of gas to heat homes during the coldest part of heating stations from domestically produced
the year, and as this would become obvious by coal while switching away from Russian imports.
mid-summer, prices would soar to even higher Other countries like German and Turkey
levels than Europe experienced last summer are so reliant on Russian gas that they have lit-
as bne IntelliNews described in the gas crisis fea- tle choice but to keep buying the fuel. Despite
ture “V-shaped market”. the extraordinary acceleration in the switch to
It is possible to cut off Russian gas, but it renewables, most of Europe is still years away
would mean the whole of Europe shifting to a from being able to power itself entirely without
wartime mentality, similar to the German Ber- using Russian gas.
lin airlift at the start of the Cold War, Christof Germany has made amazing progress in
Ruehl, senior research scholar, Columbia Uni- developing renewables, which at 40% of gross
versity and the former chief economist at bp, in a power generation are now by far the largest con-
recent podcast with bne IntelliNews. That means tributor to energy production. Renewables make
turning thermostats down from 22C to 10-15C, up 34% of the EU average power mix, but only
a slowdown in industrial output, power ration- Norway and Iceland have transitioned to 100%
ing and rolling black- and brown-outs as well as renewable power generation, with Albania in
unaffordable energy bills for the population that third place with 84% and Austria, Sweden, Den-
governments would have to subsidise at the cost mark, Portugal and Latvia all now producing
of billions of euros. more than half their power from renewables.
While new renewable resources are being
Energy dependency developed, Germany’s plan to end fossil fuels
How did Europe get into this mess? The atti- entirely by 2025 anticipated that imports of Rus-
tude to Russian gas varies vastly from country sian gas would actually increase in the short term
to country. Poland is largely reliant on coal-fired as coal-fired and nuclear power plants are shut
power stations and is able to fuel its power and down. Gas was seen as the cleanest of all the fuel

Week 15 15•April•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9