President Biden and congressional Democrats constantly fret about “climate change.” Indeed, they have made it such a high priority they are taking an “whole of government approach” to addressing it. In fulfilling their aims at curbing emissions, the entire Biden Administration has been systematically and intentionally dismantling the powerful, reliable energy system America has built over the past century, and offering in its place little more than vague promises of a “clean, renewable” system will miraculously appear to replace it.
It’s a bold promise. It’s also a foolish one.
The reason why is that there really isn’t a solid example, anywhere in the world, that Green energy has proven itself to be a “success” as a main supplier of energy. Team Biden insists we should follow Europe’s lead on “green energy,” because our friends across the Atlantic have shown the “energy transition” works. To the contrary, actual news from Europe should shake even the most ardent climate activists out of their extreme weather nightmares and green utopia fantasies.
Despite warmer than expected winter weather, banning fracking for gas in Europe and then embargoing Russian gas over Putin’s war in the Ukraine forced EU countries to spend $1.2 trillion importing energy between January 2021 and February 2023. LNG imports in 2022 were 60% and $25 billion higher than in 2021, as Europe outspent China, Japan and South Korea combined on imported fuels.
Russia merely sold its gas elsewhere, using the profits to finance more weaponry and prop up its economy.
EU households have struggled for years to pay their bills, as jobs disappeared and food, gasoline and electricity prices shot upward. Food costs rose 18% on average across the continent in 2022; 32% in Lithuania; 48% in Hungary. Average new cars in Britain cost 43% ($14,400) more than five years ago, beyond the reach of middle class families.
Experts say Germany’s electric rates could hit 40 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2023-2024, and then rise to 50 cents. Britain is not far behind. (By comparison, the average US price is 12.5 cents/kWh, ranging from 8.4 cents in Wyoming to 18.3 in New York, 21.0 in California and 42.4 in Hawaii.)
Even worse, the German government wants to force families to replace gas furnaces with heat pumps that are powered by that pricey electricity, but don’t even keep homes warm. Families that don’t comply would be fined 50,000 euros ($53,600).
The entire UK auto industry could go belly-up, as Net Zero policies make manufacturing (especially electric vehicles) increasingly non-competitive against China. The Middle Kingdom’s low-cost, coal-based electricity, control of essential metals and minerals, minimal environmental standards, and cheap, slave and child labor give it dominance over automobile, battery, wind turbine and solar panel markets. 900,000 German automotive jobs, and tens of thousands in Italy, face extinction.
Not surprisingly, one-tenth of German companies plan to relocate operations to other countries. The huge German chemicals company BASF is shedding 2,600 jobs, because of soaring costs, limited gas supplies, excessive bureaucracy and exorbitant taxes. Green Europe is staring into the abyss.
Meanwhile, China and India are on the ascendance – using coal and natural gas (and a dash of wind and solar for good PR and ESG scores) to electrify homes, factories, schools and businesses. “China goes for cheap coal to beat green West,” while “India cheers the return of King Coal,” says Reuters.
No wonder Europeans are getting restless, and angry. A British town chosen to be the country’s “first Net Zero village” revolted against the heat pumps they were to get, and the bureaucrats backed down. Facing outrage over the looming automobile death knell, Germany, Italy and five other EU nations have formed an alliance to oppose proposed bans on internal-combustion engines.
So maybe “yes,” we should look to Europe for good, practical lessons on Going Green. But perhaps we shouldn’t draw the same conclusions about it as do those in the Biden Administration.
Craig Rucker is president of the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org).
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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We can watch in real time Europe suffering and ridiculous energy and gas prices after decades of their “Green New Deal” policies made them totally dependent on Russian gas and oil. In some places, energy costs have increased 1000% and businesses are closing because they can’t afford their utility bills. Their inflation is higher than ours and now they are clear cutting their forests for fuel and desperately digging again for coal.
What’s even worse is that even after seeing all of this, Biden and the Democrats passed a 730 billion dollar Green Energy bill, laughably called the “Inflation Reduction Act” to institute all these proven failed policies here. It’s nothing but a Green New Deal slush fund that includes such insanity as 60 billion dollars for “environmental justice”. And then there’s the four or five states that want to ban gas powered cars by 2030. Never mind that most all of the rare earth minerals for car batteries are mined in China or in Africa by child slave labor. Or that almost all of our solar panels come from China. Or that China is the worst polluting country in the world and is building coal fired plants as fast as they can and laughing at our idiocy and how we will continue to make them rich.
It’s always been about power and control. The Democrats and “Green” ideologues goal is simply to destroy the middle class in America and install the Democrats in power in perpetuity. That’s why all the massive corporations have gone “woke”. The Democrats promise to be “hands off” on their monopolies and tax breaks and supply them all the cheap labor they can dream of through our totally open border. In return they get the CEO’s compliance and tens of millions in “donations”. As the middle class further collapses from inflation and ever increasing energy costs from “Green” mandates, Americans will beg for more Government help which always means more government control. The poor are already government dependent. Coup complete. Then there will be just two classes of people in the U.S.. The rich “elite” Democrat politicians and their crony capitalist oligarchs and the poor masses that will own nothing. Just like every other Socialist/Communist state in history.