Europe pisses in the wind

Kollege Philip Stott kommentiert die Brüsseler Klimapolitik und den wachsenden Realismus in Deutschland:

Yesterday, the EU Commission proposed its draft plan to achieve, by 2020, a 20 per cent cut in EU carbon emissions compared with 1990. Of course, the ever-bureaucratic and unaccountable EU could not leave this to its individual countries to achieve in their preferred manner, so that the micromanagement of each state, with severe financial penalties for failure, is an integral part of the centralised planning.

Accordingly, legally-binding ‘renewable’ energy targets (no nuclear, of course) are proposed for each member state, ranging from Malta at 10 per cent to Sweden at 49 per cent, the average being 20 per cent. Although the UK’s figure of 15 per cent ‘renewables’ appears to be below average, it is, in effect, the toughest of all, demanding an increase in ‘renewable’ energy from a 2005 figure of 1.3 per cent to 15 per cent in under 12 years. Moreover, because this figure involves all forms of energy, it necessitates a 35-40 per cent figure for electricity generation, the equivalent of over 20,000 wind turbines. The cost of electricity will inevitably rise dramatically for all consumers, at estimates of 15 per cent or more. Lastly, 10 per cent of all road fuels must be biofuels.

Much of this is economic and, I might add, ecological suicide. It is the Mad Hatter’s EU tea party. But worse, much is also pissing in the wind.