European Energy Crisis

[brenthutch 422]

Cold weather (brought on by global warming, no doubt), unreliable renewables, and increased demand from China for fossil fuels has created an energy crisis across the pond.  Factories are shutting down, businesses are closing, food shortages…
It’s so bad that the Germans have invented a word for it: energizearmut.  But it’s not just Europe.  We have an example right here in the US of what happens when green ambitions get ahead of reality.

“Last summer, California purposely blacked out homes and businesses on a rotating basis to avoid uncontrolled blackouts across the entire Western grid.

As fall approaches, California finds itself in the unenviable position of threatening blackouts for its residents once again. Last week, state officials asked the federal government to declare an electric reliability emergency so the state can exceed its pollution limits in an effort to avoid blackouts…..

The problem for us is that the electric grid doesn’t run on pixie dust or according to the laws of California; it runs according to the laws of physics.”

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/23/business/europe-uk-energy-crisis/index.html

 

https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article254391999.html

(No Bill, CNN is not right wing)

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by brenthutch

[SkyDekker 1,319]

4 hours ago, brenthutch said:

’s so bad that the Germans have invented a word for it: energizearmut.

Oh, you think that is a new term. Bless your heart. (and it is Energiearmut)

[brenthutch 422]

26 minutes ago, SkyDekker said:

Oh, you think that is a new term. Bless your heart. (and it is Energiearmut)

Once again SkyDekker is majoring in the minors. That said he has no other alternative.

Edited September 23, 2021 by brenthutch

[SkyDekker 1,319]

4 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Once again SkyDekker is majoring in the minors. That said he has no other alternative.

Did you know the English speaking world invented a word for it too? Energy poverty....been around for a while. 

[brenthutch 422]

36 minutes ago, SkyDekker said:

Did you know the English speaking world invented a word for it too? Energy poverty....been around for a while. 

That is two words. See, I can do it too.
How about dealing with the substance of my post instead of playing little games of semantics.  Oh that’s right, you can’t.

Edited September 23, 2021 by brenthutch

[gowlerk 2,114]

When energy is more expensive people conserve it. That’s how carbon taxes work. Get used to it. Jump tickets are going to cost more. So far in Canada about a $1 increase in fuel cost per slot.

Edited September 23, 2021 by gowlerk

[SkyDekker 1,319]

12 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

How about dealing with the substance of my post instead of playing little games of semantics.  Oh that’s right, you can’t.

The substance being that when items are scarce the price goes up. Most people past age 12 or so can grasp that concept. But I guess we all want to share when we learn something new.

But please do tell how this new concept drove the Germans to invent a new word, that part I am actually interested in.

Edited September 23, 2021 by SkyDekker

[riggerrob 613]

Is Europe suffering from shortages of gasoline, diesel, natural gas, electricity, etc.?

[ScottishJohn 25]

On 9/24/2021 at 3:58 PM, riggerrob said:

Is Europe suffering from shortages of gasoline, diesel, natural gas, electricity, etc.?

Not quite. There is plenty of energy but we are having problems moving it around to where it is needed. 
At the moment Britain and mainland Europe are suffering from a lack of HGV tanker drivers with the correct credentials to move hazardous cargo such as petrol (gasoline) diesel and LPG.

Sadly this has caused a lot of lemmings to go out and panic buy as much petrol and diesel as they can cram in their tanks which has caused a short term fuel shortage. By this time next week the petrol stations will have had more deliveries and lots of people won't need to fill their tanks as they will still be full from the panic buying and the fuel shortage will be gone.

To compound this problem there has been a fire in Kent at the National Grid site where the powerline between UK and France is situated. This has caused a spike in wholesale electricity prices which has caused a lot of of the smaller players to go bust because of the business  model they were operating under.

As far as cold weather brought on by global warming. This is just not true.

Last week we were seeing temperatures as high as 24 deg C which is about 6 Deg C above the normal temperature for this time of the year.  It is a bit cooler this week with cold fronts bringing rain in from the Atlantic but since this is the first rain we have had for about 3 weeks it is quite welcome.

And when I say it is cooler this week than previous weeks or months. I have changed my shorts for a pair of jeans but we are still not ready to switch the heating on.  
 

I see the original poster presented a short (inaccurate) sentence about the fuel problems in Europe at the moment then went on a rant about possible blackouts in California so maybe the title of this thread is a bit misleading and should be about energy production in CA if that is what he really want to talk about. 

 

[ryoder 1,572]

24 minutes ago, ScottishJohn said:

Not quite. There is plenty of energy but we are having problems moving it around to where it is needed. 
At the moment Britain and mainland Europe are suffering from a lack of HGV tanker drivers with the correct credentials to move hazardous cargo such as petrol (gasoline) diesel and LPG.

And from what I've read, this was caused by the idiocy of Brexit, forcing a lot of those drivers to return to their home countries in the EU.

[Stumpy 284]

8 minutes ago, ryoder said:

And from what I've read, this was caused by the idiocy of Brexit, forcing a lot of those drivers to return to their home countries in the EU.

Brexit has accelerated and exacerbated it massively, but it was a brewing problem already due to shrinking salaries and not great working conditions. The pool of drivers was already shrinking, and brexit has just added another nail in the coffin

[olofscience 464]

9 minutes ago, ryoder said:

And from what I've read, this was caused by the idiocy of Brexit, forcing a lot of those drivers to return to their home countries in the EU.

If I had £0.01 every time I heard "this has nothing to do with Brexit"...

People here who voted for it are deep in denial - saying it's due to covid, but at the same time not being able to explain why none of the EU countries, or even Northern Ireland are being affected as much.

[wolfriverjoe 1,481]

54 minutes ago, Stumpy said:

Brexit has accelerated and exacerbated it massively, but it was a brewing problem already due to shrinking salaries and not great working conditions. The pool of drivers was already shrinking, and brexit has just added another nail in the coffin

There is a similar situation in the US.

 

HazMat endorsement has a requirement for a background check with fingerprints every few years. It's kind of a hassle. It's not free. Few companies pay for it.

So, as a result, the number of drivers with HazMat endorsements on their license has dropped rather dramatically.

There were spot gas shortages in a few different places around the US over the summer due to a lack of tanker drivers. 

[gowlerk 2,114]

1 hour ago, Stumpy said:

Brexit has accelerated and exacerbated it massively, but it was a brewing problem already due to shrinking salaries and not great working conditions. The pool of drivers was already shrinking, and brexit has just added another nail in the coffin

Canada attracts a lot of European truck drivers who are fed up with the working conditions they face over there. Yes, we poach truck drivers, doctors, and nurses from around the world when we can. Also the odd TI or two.

[ryoder 1,572]

6 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

There is a similar situation in the US.

 

HazMat endorsement has a requirement for a background check with fingerprints every few years. It's kind of a hassle. It's not free. Few companies pay for it.

So, as a result, the number of drivers with HazMat endorsements on their license has dropped rather dramatically.

There were spot gas shortages in a few different places around the US over the summer due to a lack of tanker drivers. 

Hell, the local "King Soopers" (really Kroger) gas station I normally use has been out of regular about 4 times this past summer, so I've had to go to an alternate station.

[riggerrob 613]

On 9/28/2021 at 3:40 PM, ryoder said:

Hell, the local "King Soopers" (really Kroger) gas station I normally use has been out of regular about 4 times this past summer, so I've had to go to an alternate station.

Do you understand that your car, truck, airplane, etc. will run just fine on the next higher octane gasoline?

[ryoder 1,572]

1 hour ago, riggerrob said:

Do you understand that your car, truck, airplane, etc. will run just fine on the next higher octane gasoline?

I also understand there is no value in putting more expensive gasoline in it.

[Phil1111 1,099]

Its a good thing Brent doesn't read these forums any more. He may have been right and everyone knows what happens here on the occasion when he's right.

Cushing hub could be weeks away from effectively running out of crude

IMO Biden made a mistake cancelling the Canadian XL pipeline. This was one of the few issues on which trump, Brent and i agreed.

[brenthutch 422]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:49 AM, Phil1111 said:

Its a good thing Brent doesn't read these forums any more. He may have been right and everyone knows what happens here on the occasion when he's right.

Cushing hub could be weeks away from effectively running out of crude

IMO Biden made a mistake cancelling the Canadian XL pipeline. This was one of the few issues on which trump, Brent and i agreed.

The reason I have been off-line is that I told Skydeker “energy poverty” was two words, not one. BillV called that a PA and gave me a one month time out. Of course nothing was ever said about Skydeker’s “can you even say your name without fucking it up” comments to me. Prior to that I got a one month timeout for committing the sin of thread drift.

[wmw999 2,334]

Man I love me some spin. And you don’t (and won’t) know what happened with anyone else. Just as people thought you just quit posting. No one talked about a timeout except for you. 
Wendy P. 

[brenthutch 422]

5 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

Man I love me some spin. And you don’t (and won’t) know what happened with anyone else. 
Wendy P. 

The multiple expletive laced responses to my posts and his uninterrupted ability to continue to post suggests otherwise 

[JoeWeber 2,613]

52 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

The multiple expletive laced responses to my posts and his uninterrupted ability to continue to post suggests otherwise 

It's not easy being green.

[brenthutch 422]

On 9/28/2021 at 10:14 AM, ScottishJohn said:

Not quite. There is plenty of energy but we are having problems moving it around to where it is needed. 

 

Agreed, it is all trapped in the ground, largely in Russia.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/business/global-energy-crisis/index.html

“In Europe, natural gas is now trading at the equivalent of $230 per barrel, in oil terms — up more than 130% since the beginning of September and more than eight times higher than the same point last year, according to data from Independent Commodity Intelligence Services”

[riggerrob 613]

Sounds like Russia has West3ern Europe by the "short and curlies" by restricting the flow of natural gas.

A couple of years back, some Canadian tree-huggers were trying to prevent a new natural gas pipeline from reaching the Pacific Ocean. part of their rational was low prices caused by a surplus of NG.

Where is that projected surplus now??????

[gowlerk 2,114]

4 hours ago, wmw999 said:

Man I love me some spin. And you don’t (and won’t) know what happened with anyone else. Just as people thought you just quit posting. No one talked about a timeout except for you. 
Wendy P. 

If you allow arguing with the mods within the forum we are pretty much done for.