Germany to Store Europe’s Energy

[kristopher]

Germany to Store Europe’s Energy
Power transition will result in domineering monopoly.
BY GARETH FRASER

Whether it’s storing money, gold, armaments or sustainable energy, 2013 has seen Europe’s largest country rapidly gobble up key assets, positioning it as continental chief operating officer.

Recently Germany’s government approved €150 million of new investment capital to maintain its Energy Transition policy, or Energiewende. The program is managed by the Ministries of Economics, Environment, Education and Research.

This phase of stimulus is dubbed “sustainable power grids” and comes as part of the government’s sixth stage of energy research. Once created, these power grids will act as smart distribution centers managing supply and demand. The research has established an “Internet of Energy,” which forecasts a 10 percent reduction in domestic utility costs and a 20 percent reduction for commercial businesses.

With memories of Chernobyl and Fukashima nuclear power plant catastrophes fresh in mind, the Energiewende goal is to draw down nuclear, along with gas, and transition to more sustainable, renewable energy.

“The policy has progressed well, and the increase of fluctuating renewable capacities is now causing the need for storage and smart grid expansion,” said Tobias Rothacher, senior manager of Renewable Energies at Germany Trade and Invest...

http://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10633.19.0.0/world/energy/germany-to-store-europes-energy

[cprise]

1. Renewable energy as a sign of the End Times!

Totally Awesome!!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. That's an ... interesting ... website you've found there

Background on the publishing church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Church_of_God

Maybe a source that's slightly less insane would be a good idea? It does look like there's a proper story behind it, but those people are nuts.

[kristopher]

3. Yes but...

The thing that struck me was how the reasoning dovetails so well with the goals of the carbon lobby.

[Iterate]

4. That doesn't look accidently crazy.

Last edited Wed May 22, 2013, 02:20 AM - Edit history (1)

It's too well crafted. Judging by his other articles, I'd say Fraser is a Germanophobic Bible-thumping Thatcherite who is well supported by the editors. Unlike the US, that combination doesn't seem to include incompetence.

“Although all wealth comes from the ground..." Fear the Hun. We get it.

On edit:
This bit of climate trollery has proven to be interesting. Much of the site and this group's beliefs originate from a 1930s-1960s US Midwestern radio evangelist and publisher named Herbert W. Armstrong.

A core belief:
"Several books and booklets focused on the key events that would signal the imminence of Christ's return, and taught of a specific end-time prophecy to be fulfilled, manifested in the form of European peacekeeping forces surrounding Jerusalem, at which time God's Church would be taken to a place of protection, or "place of safety" — possibly Petra in Jordan. World War III was predicted to be triggered by a "United States of Europe" led by Germany which would destroy both the United States of America and the United Kingdom. From the place of safety they would continue the work and prepare to help Christ establish Utopia upon His return.
...
The book The United States and Britain in Prophecy was published in 1954. It became the most well known and requested church publication, with over six million copies distributed. In this book, Armstrong makes the claim that the peoples of the United States, the British Commonwealth nations, and the nations of Northwestern Europe are descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. This belief, called British Israelism, formed the central basis of the theology of the Worldwide Church of God." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_W._Armstrong#Radio_and_publishing

His post-war preaching was aired on Radio Luxembourg, and from there reached the UK.

Fossil carbon may not be as difficult to deal with as fossil ideas.

[GliderGuider]

9. Thanks for the background.

Fossil carbon may not be as difficult to deal with as fossil ideas.

Excellent! Quotable quote is quotable.

[Iterate]

10. Maybe bad ideas have a half-life?

Nah, they just keep kicking to the surface like a bad lunch.

[kristopher]

11. That's good to know

There is no shortage of lunatic interpretations of bibilcal writings. Go to nearly any evangelical church and start interviewing someone at random and you'll find ideas that deserve the label 'wild eyed and crazy'. What binds them however, is that their faith is based on a Core Belief that the bible is the true and literal word of god. This creates the mental conditions for what amounts to a form of psychosis where reality inevitably has to be rejected if the Core Belief is to be maintained. The more this belief is challenged with reality based evidence, the further from reality the Believer is required to remove him/herself in order to maintain the structure that their world view is build upon.

That anti-science predilection is a condition that is tailor made for exploitation by economic interests that are threatened by science based knowledge. The range of nuttery is so broad that one need not look very far at all to find a fully developed mental architecture (in this case Armstrong's) that will carry a message for rallying public sentiment in the direction desired. In this case - Germany moving to renewables is evil.

[Iterate]

12. I think it applies to consumtion patterns as well.

I remember talking to an old friend a few years ago, wondering how far she would go in her love of unnecessary driving. She's not necessarily a critical thinker, but is well educated and cosmopolitan. As an aside, I mentioned geothermal and the fear of "punching holes in the ground and letting the devil out". I'll never forget the look on her face.

Almost as if smelling sulfur, she said "Well, it could make volcanoes."

She knew better but just couldn't let that first brick crumble. She still drives over 15k per year.

[FBaggins]

5. A couple hundred *Million* dollars is supposed to do that?

Pretty far fetched.

[kristopher]

6. I can always count on you for a thorough, careful reading and slashingly insightful commentary.

You've delivered everything I've come to expect of you.

[FBaggins]

7. There was no "there" there.

It was triumphalism unmixed with actual information. "We're going to be the best... um... because we've decided to do it!"

As if the rest of the world just sits back and watches.

They had pretty broad aspirations not so many years ago to lead the world in solar PV manufacturing. They spent many times that amount trying to birth a new manufacturing sector. It didn't work out so well... did it?

Probably best to wait for them to actually come up with a viable grid-scale storage system before proclaiming that they were going to be the storage site for all of Europe. Particularly when they're currently paying through the nose for other countries to store their power for them.

[kristopher]

8. Priceless.

ROFL