Shhhh: Green-friendly Europe consuming more coal
Europe’s use of the fossil fuel spiked last year after a long decline, powered by a surge of cheap U.S. coal on global markets and by the unintended consequences of ambitious climate policies that capped emissions and reduced reliance on nuclear energy.
The new dependence on one of the dirtiest fuels shows just how challenging it is to maintain the momentum needed to go green, analysts and officials say, and demonstrates the far-reaching effects of America’s natural gas boom…
“It’s been very welcome that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have been going down because of the switch to gas,” said David Baldock, executive director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy in London. “But if we’re simply diverting the coal somewhere else, particularly to Europe, a lot of those benefits are draining away.”
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And the people in Germany are now going into that country’s national forests, and cutting down trees to try and stay warm.
Why? Because the cost of energy in Germany has gone up 62% ever since “renewables” came in.
Del Dolemonte on February 9, 2013 at 10:58 AM
It’s ok, they are socialists. They are doing it for a good cause!
BigGator5 on February 9, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Some fascinating comments at the WaPo link. Many of the Leftists there are angrily stamping their feet up and down, denying the facts in the article, and one nimrod even blames the increased coal consumption in Europe on…Chimpy Bush’s War for Oil in Iraq!
Low IQ Voters indeed. No wonder those with college degrees are leaving the Democrat Party in droves.
Del Dolemonte on February 9, 2013 at 11:03 AM
Damn those laws of economics! We keep ignoring them but they wont go away. – The Left
RadClown on February 9, 2013 at 11:13 AM
“Damn those laws of economics! We keep ignoring them but they wont go away!” – The Left
RadClown on February 9, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Low IQ Voters is THE TERM TO USE.
deptofredundancydept on February 9, 2013 at 11:18 AM
We traveled to southern France a few years ago, and spent some time in Bormes. My wife and I were appalled at the site of smoke billowing from the chimneys of all the small, quaint homes. Then, when we looked out over the surrounding valleys, we were greeted with low-lying smoke from all the little farms burning their trash.
It’s remarkable how the Europeans are comfortable with lecturing the rest of the world on how they should live, when in fact, many of their small communities (and Europe is loaded with them) are still living in the early 20th century when it comes to home heating and trash disposal.
Hill60 on February 9, 2013 at 11:27 AM