Pandemonium: Energy Bills Force Europe’s Factories to Go Dark

Murano furnace and pipe 2Written by Jo Nova

Spare a thought for glassmakers and tilers in Europe who can’t run on solar and wind powered furnaces.

There are companies that started business in the 1800s and survived two world wars but may not last the coming winter. It’s all changing so fast, they lament. With energy costs rising three to sixfold, the highest energy industries are folding. The first casualties were fertilizer, aluminium and zinc, and now in the second wave, the glass makers and tilers are coming undone, and with them, whole towns that support them will unravel too:

Liz Alderman, The New York Times

Half of Europe’s aluminum and zinc production has been taken offline, according to Eurometaux, Europe’s metals trade association.

Eschenbach Porcelain survived Germany’s transition from communism to capitalism after 1989. But when its energy contracts run out at the end of this year, the company will face annual energy bills of €5.5 million, or roughly six times what it is paying now, said Rolf Frowein, its director.

Eschenbach Porcelain started 130 years ago. The giant glassmaker Arc started in 1825.

The numbers are just astounding:

The whirlwind has unnerved the inhabitants of Arques, a town whose fortunes have been tied to glassmaking for more than a century. The modern-day Arc was founded in 1825 as the Verrerie Cristallerie d’Arques, then a small local maker of fine crystal goblets.

Crystal d'Argues Glass

The site, which consumes as much energy as 200,000 homes, makes “arts de table,” including Luminarc dinner plates and Cristal d’Arques-branded table and barware. All told, Arc produces four million glasses a day…

Doing so requires intense heat to melt sand into glass in furnaces that must stay lit 24 hours a day. In summer, Europe’s power crunch propelled Arc’s energy bill to $75 million, from 19 million euros a year ago.

Even more daunting was the prospect of idling Arcs furnaces. “You can’t just shut down a glass furnace — it would destroy it,” Mr. Hodler said. “If they are powered down gently, they will survive, but then they take more than one month to be reheated.”

Photo: Glass furnace: Wknight94 and Crystal d’Arques glass photo by Agence Sigmund

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91 comments to Pandemonium: Energy Bills Force Europe’s Factories to Go Dark

  • #
    noisemarine

    The worldwide supply chain is shattering. If you have not yet started your preparations for a global depression you should make it a priority.

    481

  • #
    Rosco

    I really can’t say I’m sorry that they are finally reaping what they have sown for decades now. Germany’s population and indeed the majority of Europeans have been sneering at any who didn’t adopt their insanity.

    The only thing they can pray for is global warming will moderate this winter.

    For the life of me I have never understood why people who live in countries where warmth is a brief interlude in cold weather have proven to be the most terrified of a trace gas.

    Where I live our annual average temperature of 22°C is already 7°C above the so-called average and we are continually swamped by UK expats who don’t seem to worried about warmth.

    511

    • #
      another ian

      Some are punting on a very cold winter for Europe

      100

    • #
      Climate Heretic


      Unfortunately that is not the case. At the web site ‘NoTrickZone’, there is the following article, ‘Good News: 2022 Hurricane Season Mild. Bad News: Pressure Pattern Threatens Europe With Hell Winter’   [1].

      In the article the following is mentioned:

      “However, Joe notes there are signs this may not be the case. That would mean the coming winter could become – in the current dire energy situation – the Mother of Nightmares: a bitter cold winter with energy outages. In the event of blackouts, which many experts warn have a high chance of occurring, Europe would then be facing a humanitarian and economic crisis on a scale not seen in a very long time.”

      It’s not looking pleasant all around.

      Regards
      Climate Heretic
      [1] https://notrickszone.com/2022/09/18/good-news-2022-hurricane-season-mild-bad-news-pressure-pattern-threatens-europe-with-hell-winter/

      151

    • #

      If we Europe residents are fortunate the winter, we might get a tolerable winter.
      But that will be due to weather.
      CAGW, Climate Catastrophe, Wierding Weather, Planetary Boiling etc. will have nothing at all to do with the outcome.
      But tolerable is not the way to bet.
      How will YOU survive an hour, a day, or perhaps a week without electricity (or gas. Or both??)?

      Auto

      00

  • #
    DD

    Energy Bills Force Europe’s Factories to Go Dark
    Never mind, they’ll all just relocate to countries whose governments have the best interests of their people at heart.

    270

  • #

    Energy is cheaper at night so all they need to do is to power their furnaces at night using solar power.

    444

  • #
    Neville

    Of course all of their so called EXISTENTIAL THREATS, CRISIS etc don’t add up to a row of beans.
    This panic is taking place when Humans have never had it so good and yet we’re told we’re heading for the APOCALYPSE.
    The defences of Europe are at stake if they continue their delusional nonsense and nobody seems to care or understand. Ditto the USA and all of the OECD countries.
    I’ve yet to find a comparable electric tank or aircraft or ships or whatever that could possibly withstand an attack from Russia or China. DUH.
    AGAIN here’s Willis Eschenbach’s “where’s the emergency” article that covers all of the data/ evidence.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/25/wheres-the-emergency/

    101

  • #
    b.nice

    Oh dear.. IF ONLY they still had plenty of coal and nuclear powered electricity available 😉

    301

  • #
    Honk R Smith

    Minds have been taken by an apocalyptic obsessive ideology.
    Possibly manipulated by obscure vested and/or purposed actors.
    Willing to destroy themselves and us with them.
    All in the attempt to stop something that isn’t happening.
    To rule over the ashes.

    211

  • #
    Richard C (NZ)

    >”…and now in the second wave, the glass makers and tilers are coming undone”

    And bakers:

    German Bakery Slapped With €330,000 Gas Bill After Contract Canceled
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/german-bakery-slapped-eu330000-gas-bill-after-contract-canceled

    “A year ago, we paid €5,856 per month in gas costs for our large furnaces and heating”

    Bakers need gas for “large furnaces” – who knew?

    200

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Tesla Is Hiking Supercharger Prices “Significantly” Across Europe

    Prices are going up at the pump…err, we mean the Tesla Superchargers.

    According to a new report from electrek, Tesla is increasing prices at its Supercharger stations “significantly” across Europe as the continent continues to deal with a sprawling energy crisis that shows no signs of slowing.

    The additional price hikes come after Tesla has already increased prices throughout 2022.

    “Due to an increase in energy prices, we are adjusting Supercharging pricing across Europe,” Tesla wrote in a letter to its owners in Europe this week. The rising prices not only are a burden for EV owners, but they are starting to challenge the narrative that EVs are cheaper to own and operate on a day to day basis.

    The blog lamented that it used to cost no more than $5 or $10 for a full charge at a Supercharger. Now, prices are approaching $30.

    One Zero Hedge contributor in Europe experienced the rise in prices firsthand this week when an Uber driver, sporting an EV other than a Tesla, remarked that electricity prices had soared over the past week, and that it now costs about $30 to charge fully at a Supercharging station.

    A couple dollars more and it’ll almost cost the same as filling up with a tank of gas. Oh, the irony…

    370

    • #
      Richard C (NZ)

      >”A couple dollars more and it’ll almost cost the same as filling up with a tank of gas. Oh, the irony…”

      Meanwhile, in UK:

      EV Running Costs Now Higher Than Petrol Cars
      https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/09/13/ev-running-costs-now-higher-than-petrol-cars/

      And if you need to charge at a public charging station, the running costs will be even higher, with prices already typically around 50p/KWh even before the October hike

      And not to mention the cost of dead battery disposal, of course. And all the other economic “externalities”, as Simon likes to browbeat us with in regard to fossil fuels.

      221

      • #
        Rupert Ashford

        The stories about lower costs are all lies. Once everyone has been cajoled onto abandoning filthy fossil fuels for their cars, households etc and we’re all ONLY on electricity controlled by the government/green lobby complex, they can do whatever they lease with those prices and we just need to cough up. They also installed “smart meters” a few years ago in Aus, so your power consumption can be “rationed” on an individual house level by external parties. Big Brother’s watching you…

        151

    • #
      DD

      If only someone could invent a cheap, reliable motor of some sort that used a cheap reliable propellent that could be topped up in a matter of seconds … if only!

      221

  • #
    Paul Miskelly

    Is there a great deal of difference in the basic processing between producing glass and the manufacture of the ultra-pure polysilicon ingots used for the fabrication of solar PV panels?

    After all, one of the basic starter materials in their manufacture is the same, silicon dioxide.
    As I understand it, highly pure silicon dioxide plus the same molar amount of ultra-pure carbon has to be heated to some 1700 degrees C in an electric furnace to produce pure silicon and, wait for it, lots of CO2. Seems to me that, whether the silicon dioxide, (sand), is used to make either glass or polysilicon, that, weight for weight, the energy requirements would be similar in each process.

    I suppose that if there are any firms still producing solar panels in Germany, then no doubt they are receiving special treatment to enable them to pay their energy bills.

    If I am correct, then the hypocrisy is self-evident.

    David Maddison, can you provide our readers with further enlightenment as to the similarities or otherwise of the two processes?

    Regards,
    Paul Miskelly

    211

    • #
      RickWill

      My estimate is that there is 2 tonne coal equivalent energy in every 250W solar panel accounting for mining, transporting raw materials, conversion of raw materials, panel manufacture, transport of panels to point of use and then mounting on a roof as well as maintaining this entire supply chain.

      That coal has an energy content of 60GJ. The solar panel will achieve an average capacity factor of 10% or less in a reliable system due to the need to overbuild. So potential output per year is:
      250*3600*24*365*0.1 = 0.79GJ

      So in 80 years of operation, the solar panel can recover the energy that went into its manufacture. Now remember there has to be new transmission lines, storage systems, inverters that will have more energy per unit of generation than the solar panels. On the plus side, burning coal for electricity only gets about 60% the energy back as electricity but this is balanced somewhat by the fact that a lot of electricity is used for heating. So maybe 200 years of solar panel operation to recover the energy that goes into the generating system providing all the other components hang in for 200 years as well.

      This is the level that any analysis should be based on. Just adding intermittent generation to existing grids hides the fundamental reality. The clowns doing the analysis in universities have no understanding of mining, mineral processing, manufacturing or logistics. They just assume all the stuff can be made somewhere at ever reducing costs.

      It will always ne lower cost to make your own electricity using wind or solar than getting W&S from the grid if you already have the room to mount the gear.

      I operate an off-grid system that has produced 2 to 3kWh daily for more than 10 years. I have 3kW of solar panels supplying a 5kWh battery to achieve that. The system has achieved 99.7% reliability over that time. The majority of downtime was due to low battery. The solar panels are operating at an average CF of 3.5%. I could improve on that by tilting the panels to favour May sunlight because that is when sunlight is least due to persistence of condensing cloud at 37S. Anyhow 10% CF for solar is likely the best possible without using tracking array. The tracking components is just more cost.

      All the mining and processing that goes into making solar panels is mature. The potential for gains is now small.

      The concept of NutZero is highly flawed. It actually requires China to massively increase its coal consumption to make all the stuff required. As we now see in Germany, their Energiewande has been an illusion based on easy gas from Russia. They can no longer manufacture any of the components for their transition without reliance on China. The cost is enormous and the whole economy would need to transition to something like Australia where there is little manufacturing but efficient resource mining and shipment to China.

      241

      • #
        ozfred

        Your panels should be doing “better”.
        4 kw panels installed 9-10years ago.
        Averaged 16 kwH/day for year ended 02 May @ 34S. 20 kwH/day in summer 9 kwH/day in winter
        Upgrading now since I expect costs (both to install and to purchase power from the grid) to rise a lot over the next year – assuming that inverters from China will even available. And WA regulations outside of Perth are making things “interesting”.

        30

      • #
        tonyb

        Rick

        Interesting figures. So you are in effect saying that solar panels can never repay their carbon debt and its all made worse when pylons/transmission lines are needed?

        Tracking should surely be essential? I did some experiments in the UK and during a sunny spring an 80watt panel pointing directly at the sun in good weather a couple of hours either side of 1pm produced 40ish watts. as soon as the sun started to move out of direct range it dropped to 15 to 20watts. if left in its original position, by late afternoon it was gathering 10ish watts. Interesting that we had some very light haze for an hour or so and the values dropped by half. Presumably the already small output in the winter would be even more pronounced unless the sun is directly followed.

        So tracking the sun would surely be worthwhile, (in as much as it could ever be) at least in Northern latitudes.

        30

      • #
        Dean

        Your coal boiler efficiency is way too high at 60%. Older plants achieve 30 to 35%, while a HELE plant sits at about 45%.

        10

    • #
      David Maddison

      Paul,

      To make pure silicon for semiconductor and solar cell manufacturing the following process is used.

      Quartzite is crushed and then mixed with coke (coal that had previously been heated without oxygen). The mixture of quartzite and coke is added to an electric arc furnace where high temperatures of around 2000°C are produced. The carbon in the coke reacts with the oxygen in the quartzite, removing it. The result is an impure form of silicon that needs further refining.

      The silicon is then mixed with gaseous hydrochloric acid to form trichlorosilane, HCl3Si. This is a gas at the temperatures used so that it can be further purified by fractional distillation.

      The purified trichlorosilane gas is then mixed with hydrogen in a chamber with purified silicon rods electrically heated to 1150°C. It decomposes and is deposited as pure silicon on the rod surfaces to make polysilicon (many crystals as opposed to a single crystal) with a purity of 99.99999% (“seven nines”) or even ten or eleven nines. The polysilicon is then broken up to make a feedstock for the crystal growing process.

      Dopant metals such as antimony, arsenic, boron or phosphorus are added to the polysilicon to give the silicon the required electrical properties. This is called the Siemens process. It is the most commonly used process, but it uses a lot of energy; other processes have been developed such as fluidised bed reactors.

      I don’t know the energy consumption compared to glass but weight for weight, silicon would be a lot more because of the much higher temperatures involved plus the extreme levels of purity required.

      131

  • #
    A happy little debunker

    The big question for me is …

    WHY ARE OUR POLITICIANS SO WILFULLY ‘BLIND’ THAT THEY IGNORE THESE EURO OUTCOMES WHILST MIMICKING THESE EURO POLICIES?

    Labor was once a party committed to increasing Australia’s prosperity, sadly they are now explicitly intent on reducing Australia’s prosperity.

    321

    • #
      Ronin

      “Labor was once a party committed to increasing Australia’s prosperity, sadly they are now explicitly intent on reducing Australia’s prosperity.”

      Not sure where you got that from, Labor and the unions were dedicated to propping each other up, Australia didn’t come into the equation.

      241

      • #
        Rupert Ashford

        Anywhere unions are involved do not aim to boost prosperity for the country or bigger organization, only to line the pockets of its members to the detriment of everyone else.

        111

      • #
        A happy little debunker

        Put simply,
        Labor believed that if you supported the common man and lifted his wage (and his disposable spending) then Australia would become more prosperous.
        Liberals believed that if you supported business and encouraged expenditure then they would employ more and ultimately pay more and Australia would become more prosperous.

        Fundamentally it was the goal of both major parties – even if they disagreed how to go about it.

        At the last election Labor campaigned on a suite of policies that increased non-discretionary spending onto the working man – which actually saw a swing to the LNP in the very poorest of Australia’s electorates.

        11

    • #
      another ian

      Why? Try it again and the results must be different this time

      31

  • #
    Neville

    More talk of a global co2 tax to help out so called poor countries according to the Guardian donkeys.
    Just in time to add to the miseries of soaring energy bills foisted on so called wealthy countries’ voters.
    If the DEMs survive the USA mid terms in NOV we’ll know that all is lost and the voters have not had the guts to fight back.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/09/19/guardian-leaked-plans-for-a-global-carbon-tax/

    101

  • #
    Alexy Scherbakoff

    Nordstream 2 is online and ready to go. The Germans won’t allow the Russians to flick the switch.

    71

    • #
      another ian

      At the moment there might be some Russian hesitation to flick that switch!

      50

    • #
      James

      I heard it said that the compressor turbines had been removed and were destined for use on other pipelines. So starting them up might not be as easy as that.

      00

  • #
    Tel

    When this blog started and we debated whether AGW was anything
    to panic about … I somehow never thought it would end up here.

    Did you hear that a few banks are tweaking their terms of service
    and reserving the right to limit withdrawls? Could be Greece mk II.

    241

  • #
    OldOzzie

    This will Help – German Nuclear Power Plant To Shut Down After Reported Leak

    As Germany desperately attempts to stave off a winter energy crisis, most recently seizing Rosneft refinery assets, a leak at a nuclear plant reported by the country’s Environment Ministry adds to the pressure, with operations now set to be shut in for a week as repairs get underway.

    Germany’s Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Bavaria on Monday reported a leak that will require it to go offline in October for repairs.

    The nuclear plant is already slated for a permanent shutdown at the beginning of next year as part of Germany’s plan to phase out nuclear power. However, given the looming energy crisis in Germany as winter approaches, there has been some discussion of delaying a phase-out of nuclear power.

    The leak at Isar 2 means that a week of repairs in October will be necessary if the power plant is to remain operational beyond December 31st, Reuters reported, citing the plant’s operator.

    Two weeks ago, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the idea of extending the country’s use of nuclear power and delaying the phase out of nuclear power plants. Germany’s opposition conservatives have called on the chancellor to keep the country’s two remaining nuclear reactors online. Scholz has resisted this temptation, insisting that the country will have enough energy resources to make it through the winter.

    Under Scholz’s plan the remaining two nuclear reactors will be kept in emergency reserve but will not be producing any power, the Guardian reports.

    130

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    So the problem is well described, the options are known, and the response is?

    The sanctions have failed, they have not stopped the war, and again, the bulk of the population have to bear the consequences

    811

    • #
      b.nice

      And the solid reliable power they used to produce for themselves, with their own raw materials ..

      … is all gone because of the complete idiocy of the anti-CO2 agenda.

      Trump warned them, and they laughed.

      Realists have warned them for ages.

      This is totally of their own green, anti-science agenda, making.

      292

    • #
      Serge Wright

      The problem is well described. Europe spent 100s of billions on RE and then reduced it’s own production and usage of FF energy resources at the behest of green activist groups, green media and big green investment groups looking to leverage the public largess. This created a large increase in imported gas from Russia to fill the energy gap because the RE installed was too intermittent to maintain supply, and this increase in imported gas in turn caused a global energy shortage. At the same time, along came Biden and announced a cancellation of the Keystone pipeline and an end to new oil and gas leases on federal land in the USA. This further constrained supply and drove away investment in the sector, further reducing supply. To add to these woes, COP26 was run right at the start of the energy crisis and lobbied for countries such as Australia to stop production of FF and move to net zero. This further eroded investment in FF resources.

      By Q4 2021, Europe was now engulfed in a big energy crisis as their demand now exceeded supply, 40% of which was now coming from Russia. By Feb 2022, Putin, seeing a geo-political opportunity invaded Ukraine in the knowledge that he could hold Europe hostage with his gas supply. The Europeans predictably applied sanctions and that provided Putin with the excuse to turn off the tap completely, which is obviously waht he wanted all along.

      And just to avoid any confusion as to the root cause of the problem, as Europe rapidly descends into the abyss, there is a last minute rush to ramp up coal and gas production and new plans for rapid nuclear energy expansion. Yep, RE was the cause and FF is the solution and only a fool would try and suggest otherwise. But, we have no shortage of fools in 2022 !!!

      121

    • #
      el+gordo

      It was a strategic blunder which has left Europe exposed to the beast from the east.

      ‘ … and the response is?’

      There will be no surrender, perish the thought, they’ll have to build Hele coal fired power stations.

      81

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        el gordo:
        Tey built some, then shut them down.
        Even their brown coal fired ones were emitting less than our black coal ones, and 31% less than those in Victoria.

        40

  • #
    Robert

    Glassware is trivial compared to what will happen when the sewage treatment pumps stop working and the means to cook a meal or freeze food start. Panic indeed. That will be a real climate emergency

    230

  • #
    Graham Richards

    Would readers please forward this to your MP. Both sides of politics need to wake up before irreparable damage is done to our economy. If we must be Co2 free could we please be sensible. It looks like it’s the responsibility of the electorate to educate our uneducated political class.

    https://dailyfriend.co.za/2022/09/18/south-africas-small-nuclear-reactors/

    South Africa produced 70% of all electricity on the African continent before the u educated masses took over. Do not ignore the experience of a nation that was often ahead the rest of the world!

    101

  • #
    David Maddison

    The Left think you can economically run aluminium smelters on solar and wind power and they also think you can economically directly reduce iron ore with “green” hydrogen.

    Those beliefs alone are a good case to reintroduce the teaching of REAL science in “schools” and “universities”.

    241

    • #
      David Maddison

      Incidentally, to all you Leftoids, teaching kids that there are more than two genders is NOT science. It’s socio-political propaganda.

      141

  • #
    Richard+Ilfeld

    To me, the important thing to notice is that Europe is losing a relatively small part of its energy supply. The key issue is that it is the marginal part, in the sense we learned in economics 101: the price is set by what the marginal consumer will pay the marginal supplier. When a small amount of supply is removed from the market, the curve may not prove to be gentle, and prices may rise drastically as bidders for that marginal supply may drive the price up considerably. The governments will intervene, of course, in an already damaged market of their own making, causing more distortions. When a bankruptcy is a supplier to other businesses, the merry-go-round of reduced productivity soon resembles the spiral of water down a drain.

    91

  • #

    Look at these two images, the first from the Aneroid site at this link, and the second from the OpenNEM site at this link.

    What you see is the power makeup on the grid. Both coal fired Power forms of power generation make up the base of the images, the largest contributor of power generation on the grid. That representation of the ‘colours’ you see there is actually the way that power is generated and delivered.

    Coal fired power is the Base that everything else is added to on top of the coal fired power. It ‘hums away’ day in day out 24/7, and as other power is needed, it’s added ….. on top of that coal fired power. Small generators needed intermittently as required.

    In older times, coal fired power was huge, up to 90% of all generated power. Now, all of that has changed. Unreliable wind and solar have come in, and because of their unreliability and intermittency and overall uselessness, they needed other ways to ‘muscle in’ on what was a perfectly operating system.

    Each of these new forms of power, wind and solar, were, and still are so expensive.

    However, because coal fired power was far and away so cheap, and delivering soooooo much power, those expensive little tiddlers were not even noticed all that much, so electrical power generation gave the ….. perception of being cheap, and people assumed that because it was (all of it as an overall) so cheap, then those new unreliable wind and solar were in fact ….. cheap methods of generating power.

    So now, what has happened is that those wind and solar have ‘muscled’ their way in to such an extent that coal fired plants are closing down. Part of that ‘muscling in’ process is that now, it’s like this.

    “Hey look at us. We are forcing the closure of coal fired power.”

    Well, that’s actually NOT the case at all. In virtually EVERY case those coal fired plants are kept in service until they can no longer be effectively ….. kept in service, so they close down, literally time expired.

    So now, with the closure of those coal fired plants, those deliverers of humungous amounts of power, what is happening is that those tiddlers which are so expensive are now forcing up the cost of power. (Take away the huge cheap power, and add the sporadic expensive power ….. see what I mean.)

    I mean, it’s actually axiomatic. (umm, a self evident truth) Power WAS ….. once cheap, and was nearly all of it coal fired power. Power IS now really expensive, and coal fired power has been forced out, replaced by wind and solar.

    People in political power were lulled along by electrical power that was once so cheap that they believed the ‘beautiful plumage’ spiel of the renewable charlatans, and now that expensive power is in fact making up the bulk of power.

    Bayswater – ONE plant of four Units and a Nameplate of 2640MW
    Macarthur Wind – One plant Nameplate 420MW, actual 126MW, so Bayswater equals 21 Macarthurs. (well, more than that really, because Macarthur is only operating now at around 24% Capacity Factor) Bayswater delivers its power on tap, and Macarthur ….. here it comes ….. there it goes.

    Doesn’t look so cheap now eh! And Bayswater is 37 years old.

    Tony.

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  • #
    Neville

    AGAIN here’s the truth about Aussie co2 emissions from our Chief Sc ientist Dr Finkel and under oath in the Senate.
    But who cares about proper SCIENTIFIC DATA, when the extremists have their stupid religious cult to lie about?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJY8xKknpms

    80

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    As noted earlier, this is World War Three.

    The only thing that is different this time is that the enemy is hidden and could be behind us or beside us who knows where.

    90

  • #
    Rupert Ashford

    Oh don’t worry, they can import all of the above from China. Apparently they manufacture all of those things in some magical, energy-friendly way which is absolutely fine by the green elites (Monique where are you?) – out of site, out of mind and everything is honky-dory. Not that anyone has seen these magic processes in action but no-one really cares. As long as it’s NIMBY everyone’s happy…and oh yeah, screw the poor working classes who must actually work for a living at factories like these.

    80

  • #
    b.nice

    Some people keep saying that Russia is losing this little war in the Ukraine.

    Yet they look like achieving the near total destruction of Germany and much of the EU, without even setting a foot anywhere near.

    201

    • #
      GlenM

      That is the thing about the media and the feed of information from Ukraine/ East coast US political establishment. People fall for this propaganda hook,line and sinker and 90percent nonsense. This conflict has the same stamp as the Covid scare and climate-change, and it is all about control .

      104

      • #
        another ian

        I’ve mentioned this before .

        Find a copy of John Steinbeck’s “Once there was a war” and read the despatch on “Mussolini” for an idea of the rumours that become fact in a situation of radio (information) silence.

        In that case a troop ship crossing the Atlantic. The war was won before they got to UK and were dumped back into reality.

        I suspect similar of what is happening in Ukraine

        21

  • #
    Serge Wright

    We all need to prepare for empty supermarket shelves and extreme inflation. If Europe’s industrial sector collapses, it will create a massive global supply shortage and affect all goods, including medical supplies. We need to start stocking up now, but this will be a long haul indeed. When companies go bust you can’t just restart them back up. Europe will face mass unemployment as factories and companies close down due to the flow on effects of making energy unaffordable and scarce and the resistance to move back to FF, which is the only solution, might be a pill too hard to swallow for many countries.

    I think we are now at the point of no return for Europe. The only questions remaining – Can Europe recover?. Is this the end of the EU, and will WW3 be triggered as Russia and China try and seize the moment ?. A betting person would answer No, No, Yes.

    121

    • #
      Philip

      China is still not ready for war. Nor is Russia as they are finding out with the Ukraine experience. I still wouldn’t rule it out though.

      42

  • #
    TdeF

    It’s not just exotic area like crystal. All manufacturing is energy based since the steam engine. And without manufacturing we have nothing. No steel, no concrete, no timber, no glass, no plastics, no heat, no airconditioning, no travel.

    But is this happening in China? No.

    There is no upside. It is clearly an assault by the EU/UN on Western Democracies.

    And even socialist Pope Francis says the world is in real climate trouble and it is an insult to China to say it is not democratic.

    Pope Francis has called on world leaders to heed the Earth’s “chorus of cries of anguish” stemming from climate change, extreme weather and loss of biodiversity.

    Why does nothing make sense? Why is everyone into so much self harm? Carbon indulgences, hair shirts, it’s real Monty Python.

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    Philip

    “You can’t just shut down a glass furnace — it would destroy it,” Mr. Hodler said. “If they are powered down gently, they will survive, but then they take more than one month to be reheated.”

    For anyone who doesn’t understand this, use a wood fired oven, or pizza oven as they are popularly known. I built a very good one from scratch, a true vault not one of those beehive things.

    It is a great lesson in energy. I used to think power should be created by solar and wind if it is available and use other methods when not. But using a wood oven you realise the folly in this. A large amount of energy goes into getting them to operating temperature. But once there, they are very efficient. You can’t just turn them on or off. IF you have the furnace going, you use it and there is no need to use alternative sources, rather it is very inefficient to do so.

    I used to get mine going and then cook a week’s worth of meats in them. The pizza thing is just a fad and you quickly get sick of them and get into the real stuff, cooking joints of meat and then breads when it cools. Pizza is just at the start. It takes literally 2 minutes to cook a pizza but a long time to heat the oven up. You arent going to do all that work just to make a pizza. When you get it going you make a lot of use out of it. Same goes for power and glass or any furnace.

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      John Connor II

      . It takes literally 2 minutes to cook a pizza

      Puhlease…😎

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        Philip

        oh yes they’re very good. And way better than a shop bought woodfire pizza. Cooked much hotter than those, at the very peak of the temperature of the oven. And that quick cook really makes a difference.

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    John Connor II

    So…no glass means they need to shift to oil derived plastic glasses? 😨
    Maybe wooden goblets or pewter mugs?
    Clay’s good too! Making windows out of clay instead of glass reduces heat loss brilliantly!

    (“There have been significant developments in last five to seven years on social, environment and technology fronts that could help realise “My Carbon” initiatives for shaping the future towards smart and sustainable cities.”

    The UNDP’s “Peoples’ Climate Vote” reflects that over 64% of people believe climate change is a global emergency. A new Pew Research Center survey in 17 advanced economies found widespread concern about the personal impact of global climate change: 80% of citizens say they are willing to change how they live and work to combat the effects of climate change.

    “COVID-19 was the test of social responsibility”

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/my-carbon-an-approach-for-inclusive-and-sustainable-cities/)

    That’s the reality – Covid was a compliance testing scam as I said. Now stage 2 – the massive ramping up of the shutting down.
    They need to collapse modern society so that the elite can live in luxury.
    Fair enough too – they deserve it. They work hard to save the planet from those damn dirty apes stuffing it all up. /sarc

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    RoHa

    But we’re saving the Earth and the polar bears, right?

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    John R T

    telecommunication?!?
    Tonga: volcanic injection adds 10% to upper atmospheric moisture, January 2022
    Extended skiing seasons: Australia and Europe
    Increased precipitation: e.g. Pakistan
    Is typical upper atmospheric moisture regime returned?

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    IWick

    They will find out that the gas in storage is technically very difficult to access. Access to stored gas is designed to occur when the gas grid is ‘charged’ – that is with gas flowing and pressure in the pipes. The gas storage is designed to address surges in gas demand. Energy intensive businesses will close and I can’t see them reopening. An economic and social disaster on an epic scale is about to unfold.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Not sure what this means, but 4 of the world’s largest mints have moved their women HR heads into the top positions. US Mint, Canadian Mint, UK Mint, South African Mint, and looks like a fifth mint, Australia’s Perth Mint is perhaps going to do the same. Five HR Directors moved to run five big mints?! What experience do they have with running a mint? Are the big mints planning on shutting down completely? If there is going to be a Central Bank Digital Currency, why have a mint? Is that the reason? Or maybe they just see a BIG rise in gold and silver prices and expect to halt production for a while until prices stabilize. Very odd.”

    https://youtu.be/vB0lX_3xzIU

    Via Chiefio

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      Ted1.

      Sounds a bit like the Australian Labor Party.

      They have a history of putting the women in charge just before the wheels fall off.

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    JohnM

    There will be riots on the streets in France when Bakers have to charge 5€ or even 10€ for a baguette, for which we, at present, pay 1€.

    A baguette and cheese is included in all French meals.

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    […] Pandemonium: Energy Bills Force Europe’s Factories to Go Dark […]

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    Graham Richards

    I hope Germany & one or two other countries descend into darkness & chaos.. I do not say this out of intolerance, spite or any reason other than to show the complete madness that has overtaken western industrialised countries.

    The industrialised world had better not turn their backs on this, the last opportunity, to reverse this climate change lunacy.

    Most of all I hope it sinks in to our own socialist/ Marxist useless idiots in Canberra. There’ll be no 2nd chance to reverse the looming damage.

    If government is so confident that we’re on the road to a fantastic future, let’s have legislation that members of parliament, together with members of all political parties campaigning in favour of “climate change” legislation, be held jointly & severally liable for loss & hardship,

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      Saighdear

      (Sarc) You simply CANNOT say it is Lunacy. As people keep on referring to the past few years lockdown as, not only due to Covid, but it was the PANDEMIC, but also that All Professional and Trade publications / adverts etc refer to LOW CARBON & Net Zero. If only they ( their management) KNEW what they were (ARE) talking about. Fuel of all Kinds is the Energy supply of everything we touch: Small cost increases her result in exponential increases of derived products: and how do you level that out ? f(x) = x^2 …_ f fx5 8

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    Sean

    Keep in mind the changes that are taking place with respect to Russian gas which is a fungible commodity. Pipelines are being added to that bring a Russian gas to China and it is being sold at a discount. China could likely become Russia’s preferred customer for very high volumes of NG leaving the Europeans to compete with Chinese customers. This will drive prices higher worldwide for Russian gas so the EU can kiss low cost Russian NG goodbye forever. The EU will find itself trying to recover from its industrial shutdown while having to compete in a market where their costs have increase relative their toughest competition. In other words the damage to EU industry will be permanent.
    On the other hand, with fewer LNG exports to China, Australians might finally be able to benefit from its NG abundance.

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    […] How it is working out on Europe – update from Jo Nova. […]

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    Saighdear

    .. and I ‘ve always been told how Eco aluminum is…… so good in fact, wwe can’t afford to make it anymore … the best +ve feedback for sustainability then ?

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    […] See also Jo Nova’s account of the situation in Europe. […]

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