European energy policy

[Bird on a Fire]

Useful analysis from Carbon Brief, quantifying the increased gas demand caused by cutting the green crap.

Carbon Brief’s analysis shows that UK gas imports would have been cut by 65 terawatt hours (TWh) if government support for energy efficiency and renewables had continued, instead of being rolled back after then-prime minister David Cameron told ministers in 2013 to “cut the green crap”.

This saving would have been nearly twice as large as the 34TWh imported from Russia last year. It would have been sufficient to cut the UK’s net gas imports by 13% overall, significantly boosting energy security. The saving would have avoided buying 65TWh of gas at a cost of around £5bn.

Most of the savings would have been from additional onshore wind and solar capacity, which would have cut UK gas demand for electricity by 20%. Moreover, the analysis shows that gas demand for electricity generation would have been twice as high, if the UK had no renewable energy sources.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk ... reen-crap/

https://twitter.com/DrSimEvans/status/1 ... H8OZw&s=19

[Bird on a Fire]

Netherlands to join Italy, Poland and Spain in withdrawing from the Energy Charter Treaty, citing the EU's failure to get it aligned with the Paris Agreement.

This is the accord fossil fuel companies can use to sue countries for banning fossil fuel extraction projects - a relic from a stupider age.

https://www.politico.eu/article/netherl ... ob-jetten/