Don’t lose your mind reading mainstream energy chronicles – try these for instant relief – Do you feel better?
The end of the year is a time for optimism and hope for the new year. A time to relax, reflect, and mingle with friends, family, or anyone/anything that might keep you coming back. Time to set resolutions and/or goals for the new year. The entire season has focused on just one kind of uplifting message, welcoming the new year.
I do not understand anything.
That’s because, from an energy perspective, we seem to be witnessing a global and utter abandonment of consciousness, an incomprehensible sky as governments and organizations around the world try to trying to find ways to deal with energy realities in a way that doesn’t contradict the anti-hydrocarbon messages they’ve been repeating over the years.
The US government provides a prime example. During the election campaign, Joe Biden threatened to ‘put oil and gas executives in jail’ for their role in producing the world’s fuel supply too well. Showing he had a business in mind, on his first day in office, Biden performed a massive scene of crushing Keystone XL like a cockroach, to raging cheers from his newly-gathered brain trust. he.
Eighteen months later, looking shocked and with no day under the age of 120, President Biden begged OPEC+ to produce more oil. America’s petroleum executives looked at each other in bewilderment; he obviously won’t send them to jail, but asking for oil from some of the world’s most questionable regimes instead of raiding his own garden makes little sense.
Ahead of this bizarre turn of events, in July the White House announced a mammoth “Buy America” program, with WH officially New information posted promised that the government “will increase U.S. content in products the federal government buys and support domestic production of products that are important to our national security and economy.” Houston’s head had rough scratches.
Biden vowed to increase US production of ‘products vital to our national security and our economy’ but then removed the oil from that category even though it’s hard to imagine such a product. product will than important to the national/economic security of the United States.
When OPEC wasn’t playing, Biden abruptly walked to the faucet of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, gathered media around, and said “watch this” as he opened it. Nothing meaningful happened; the market doesn’t even seem to want that, and in fact, Oil prices soar.
The very next month, in early December, Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, abandoned the OPEC+ plea program, tacitly acknowledged the failure of the SPR oil release, and then turned to address US oil and gas executives: “… hire workers, check your rig.” This will be Granholm like told an audience in Berkeley, California in August that the US needed ‘urgent action’ to reduce its massive consumption of fossil fuels. I think I broke the pattern: On Wednesdays and Fridays the Biden Group opposes hydrocarbons, on Tuesdays and Thursdays the group demands more, and the days between them are set aside for Fundraising.
But it wasn’t the craziest energy scene. That title belongs to Germany. How a country legendary for technical precision and technical prowess could damage an energy system that weakened their mind so much. Germany is facing record electricity prices due in part to Europe’s lack of natural gas, coal burning requirements and record coal prices. (European countries are currently implementing fossil fuel subsidies, yes, the very subsidies that the EU and UN and activists have decried for years.)
So what is Germany doing with this energy/power crisis? Two things are amazing: first, they are playing political games with Russia by refusing to allow Russian gas to flow through the completed Nordstream 2 pipeline, a pipeline that will alleviate some of the difficulties that await. handle and very significantly coming when winter begins.
The very same German brains that built great German tools and cars are now arguing with the world that stopping Nordstream 2 is ‘leverage’ against Russia, just as you might be. could use ‘leverage’ against Shell by not buying fuel at their gas stations. Go catch tigers. (The world is sorely short of natural gas, and Russia is making an amazing amount of money selling these to a starving Europe through old pipelines for in excess of US$30/mmbtu. ).
The second German shock move almost made my head pop. In the midst of this energy crisis, later this year Germany will shut down three perfectly fine nuclear reactors. (As a ‘fossil fuel shill’, I’m not supposed to be in favor of nuclear power, but I’m really not a ‘fossil fuel shill’ – the cheapest, reliable form of energy The most reliable that meets the world’s needs should win, whatever that is.)
The nucleus does do it best – the most dense and cleanest form of energy – but as a cynical friend says, when the nucleus goes bad, it will terrible. Fifty percent of people can live with that risk and the rest can’t. In the absence of consistency there, the hydrocarbons fit the bill like no other. Closing these reactors in the middle of winter, amid Europe-wide energy shortages, is unconscionable, but that’s what you get when ideology overwhelms reason.
If there’s any doubt as to the reason for bluffing, Germany’s new environment minister reckons it should rest with Teutonic’s ruthless precision. “Nuclear power is clogging up our electricity grid, especially in the south,” stated Jan Philipp Albrecht. Let that sink in for a minute: The Environment Secretary is complaining that carbon-free electricity is always on, ‘clogging’ the grid. Side question: Are your veins ‘clogged’ by blood? Is a river ‘clogged’ by water? Are these stupid analogies? I do not know.
I have no reference point to judge a government official saying something so stupid that it’s hard to understand. Mr. Albrecht will soon find out when he ‘unlocks’ that grid by eliminating the ever-present infinity nuclear power source.
Having said all that, there are indeed some bright lights on the horizon. As the energy frenzy grows, the web of skepticism grows wider. A few years ago, it seemed that only people in the hydrocarbon industry would be willing to timidly put their hands here and there and say, “That’s not going to work.” It was a lonely existence, watching the world plunge into a frenzied war against hydrocarbons; with timid people filling the airwaves with the message that hydrocarbons will soon be obsolete.
It was therefore an indescribable sense of relief to find a rising choir that was not afraid to point out that the new Energy Emperor had no clothes on. Every day, there seem to be many energy realists around, and not just from North America. Here are a few names, and I’m going to miss some very good ones, sorry. But I recommend these people because their important messages and views do not reach the mainstream media.
What makes them so refreshing is their consistent wisdom, away from political and controversial issues; they simply point out what is happening in the energy world with a clarity that the mainstream media cannot match. (To be fair, a footnote: over the past few days, some quiet whispers have been heard in the US and Europe that natural gas could join the list of fuels. accepted. Reality can only be avoided for so long).
These are distinctive names outside of the western Canadian energy scene; I assume most are familiar with those. Here is a roundup of wisdom from outside our localized echo chamber. On Twitter, one highlight is some of Doomberg’s goofy guys/girls (@DoombergT), with a cute little green chicken icon. Don’t let that fool you, the analysis is breathtaking and problems I’ve never seen raised anywhere else (such as a shortage of AdBlue, a potentially globally potent diesel additive. potentially devastating) .29dk2902lhttps://boereport.com/ 29dk2902l.html
Other high-quality commentators are Lyn Alden (a genius macro thinker), Alexander Stahel (Swiss energy commentator), Javier Blas (both from Spain), Blair King, Michael Shellenburger, Tracy Shuchart, Brynne Kelly, Alex Epstein, Ted Nordhaus, Bjorn Lomborg , Dave Yeager, Arjun Murti, Irina Slav, Brad Hayes, Maureen McCall, Deidra Garyk… I’ll stop there, with a critical voice devoid of energy. added: follow Batya Ungar-Sargon (author of Bad News: How Woke Media is Erosing Democracy) for a sharp dissection of how and why the media is as bad as it is. it. She is not afraid of anything.
On LinkedIn, posts by Doug Sheridan, Richard Norris, and William Lacey stand out – pertinent, well-researched views that dissect many misconceptions and half-truths. NJ Ayuk offers an incredibly intelligent and passionate look at Africa’s energy landscape, and not just the energy landscape, but a doorway into a continent that seems to be finally making strides. Its a continent saying NO to further colonialism (green, red, classic, or other).
There are of course many other people, especially those closer to home, who I’m sure you know. I made this particular list because they are commentators who deserve to be unheard of on commercial sites like this featured one.
Follow these and our local talented Canadian energy writers, and you’ll find that the debate around the energy transition is becoming a much more lucid focus.
Pay attention to these voices; They will offer much hope of sanity in the energy world in the new year. Everyone has a happy holiday.
The story of energy will make sense again! You can help by distributing copies of “Fossil Fuel Insanity” at Amazon.ca, Indigo.ca, or Amazon.com. Thanks for the support.
Read more insightful analysis from Terry Etam here, or email Terry here. PS: Dear email reporters, the email flow is great and welcome, but I’m having a hard time keeping up. Apologies if comments/questions go unanswered; they are not ignored.
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