Cost vs Renewables (source Obama may finally succeed)
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A right wing think tank with members from Chancellor Merkel’s own Christian Democratic Union Party has urged a radical change to German Climate Policy.
CDU right attacks Merkel’s climate crisis
Stand: 03.06.2017 17:19 h
Challenging Merkel: The right CDU-wing “Berlin Circle” denies loud ARD studio a “solitary role in the greenhouse effect” on global warming – and calls for a U-turn in climate policy of Chancellor.
By Arnd Henze, ARD-Hauptstadtstudio
Two days after the decision of US President Donald Trump to cancel the Paris climate agreement, the conservative wing in the CDU also demands a radical change in climate policy for Germany.
In a statement submitted to the ARD Capital Studio, the “Berlin Circle”, which includes numerous federal and communal politicians of the Union, calls for an end to “moral blackmail” by climate research and the “farewell to German special targets” greenhouse gases.
Doubt in scientific models
The declaration was presented today at an internal meeting of the “Berliner Kreis” in the parliamentary groups of the CDU / CSU in the Reichstag in Berlin. The authors, among them Philipp Lengsfeld and Sylvia Pantel, are contesting a “solitary role of the greenhouse effect” and oppose a one-sided negative view of the consequences of global warming.
Thus, “the opportunities associated with the melting of polar sea ice (ice-free northern passage, new fishing opportunities, raw material extraction) are probably even greater than possible negative ecological effects“. The world climatic IPCC had developed into a kind of “world salvation circus”. However, the “increasingly aggressive political objectives, in particular the CO2 reduction targets” were based on the model calculations.
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Read more (original German): http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/konservative-cdu-klimawandel-101.html
Note: The above was translated with Google Translate, the title was hand tweaked to fix a grammatical mistake
Complaints about the economic and social impact of Germany’s radical green Energiewende policy appear to be on the rise. While it seems likely Energiewende still enjoys substantial public support, critics have blamed the policy, and the extreme electricity price rises driven by the switch to renewables, for hurting poor people.
Green Europe is Killing 40,000 Poor People a Year
by JAMES DELINGPOLE 30 Mar 2016
Europe’s suicidal green energy policies are killing at least 4o,000 people a year.
That’s just the number estimated to have died in the winter of 2014 because they were unable to afford fuel bills driven artificially high by renewable energy tariffs.
But the real death toll will certainly be much higher when you take into account the air pollution caused when Germany decided to abandon nuclear power after Fukushima and ramp up its coal-burning instead; and also when you consider the massive increase in diesel pollution – the result of EU-driven anti-CO2 policies – which may be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year.
But even that 40,000 figure is disgraceful enough, given that greenies are always trying to take the moral high ground and tell us that people who oppose their policies are uncaring and selfish.
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Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/03/30/green-europe-is-killing-40000-poor-people-a-year/
Even the German Left is worried about energy prices, though they refuse to name the reason for the price rises.
Over 300,000 poverty-hit German homes have power cut off each year
2 March 2017
Each year between 2011 and 2015, electricity providers cut off power to at least 300,000 German households who could no longer afford to pay their bills, the government revealed on Thursday.
The number of houses which could not afford electricity payments varied between 312,000 and 352,000. The power cut-offs were normally due to poverty, with people on state welfare very often affected.
Meanwhile in 2015, 44,000 households had their gas supply cut off.
The government announcement – in response to a parliamentary question by Die Linke (the Left Party) – also revealed that between 15.7 percent and 16.7 percent of people in Germany are threatened with poverty.
“Energy poverty in Germany is a silent catastrophe for millions of people, especially in the cold, dark winter months,” said Eva Bulling-Schröter, energy spokeswoman for Die Linke.
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Read more: https://www.thelocal.de/20170302/over-300000-poverty-hit-german-homes-have-power-cut-off-each-year
Der Spiegel didn’t pull any punches, back in 2013;
Germany’s Energy Poverty
How Electricity Became a Luxury GoodGermany’s agressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has come with a hefty pricetag for consumers, and the costs often fall disproportionately on the poor. Government advisors are calling for a completely new start.
By SPIEGEL Staff
September 04, 2013 07:15 PMIf you want to do something big, you have to start small. That’s something German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier knows all too well. The politician, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has put together a manual of practical tips on how everyone can make small, everyday contributions to the shift away from nuclear power and toward green energy. The so-called Energiewende, or energy revolution, is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s project of the century.
“Join in and start today,” Altmaier writes in the introduction. He then turns to such everyday activities as baking and cooking. “Avoid preheating and utilize residual heat,” Altmaier advises. TV viewers can also save a lot of electricity, albeit at the expense of picture quality. “For instance, you can reduce brightness and contrast,” his booklet suggests.
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Chancellor Merkel and other European leaders who support green energy like to portray themselves as secure, a united front against climate skeptics. But the reality is green energy is failing to deliver affordable power, and shows no prospect of ever delivering affordable power.
It is only a matter of time until support for green power collapses world wide, even in committed countries like Germany. The only question is how long Germans and other Europeans will put up with large numbers of poor people and pensioners quietly freezing to death during their long, dark winters.
