“Dunkelflaute” is a German word that translates into English as “the dark doldrums.” It describes a state when the wind doesn’t blow and Germany doesn’t have enough power. Oddly enough, it seems to occur most often when the cold weather sets in. From Vijay Jayaraj at realclearmarkets.com:
Europe stands as the self-proclaimed cathedral of the “green” transition. Bureaucrats in Brussels and politicians in Berlin have spent decades lecturing the world on the moral necessity to abandon hydrocarbons. They have constructed a narrative of the European Union as a shining city powered by the breeze and sun, modeling a net-zero utopia.
Yet, when the first real chill of winter settled over the continent this fall, that facade collapsed under the weight of physical reality.
Europe depends on fossil fuels for approximately 70% of its total energy consumption. This figure has remained stubbornly consistent over the years despite billions of euros spent on solar and wind infrastructure. The much-celebrated growth in those technologies masks a fundamental truth about energy systems that European policymakers refuse to acknowledge in public: Electricity accounts for only a fraction of total energy demand.
Transportation, heating, industrial processes and manufacturing continue to run overwhelmingly on oil, natural gas and coal. Highlighting additions in renewable power generation while ignoring the broader energy picture is like taking pride in a new front door while the rest of the house is in shambles
In late November, the fragility of a weather-dependent energy system went on display as temperatures dropped and the demand for space heating surged. This is a predictable feature of life in the Northern Hemisphere, yet European energy policy seems perpetually surprised by it.
Pingback: Cold, Green Europe: What Happens When Ideology Trumps Physics, by Vijay Jayaraj — Der Friedensstifter
They got cheap energy from Russia and blew all that up intentionally?
Duh, winning.