You are here: Coal industry update | Energy policy

Left out in the cold

The gas tap has been turned off again. And of course in winter for maximum impact. What comes out next will depend on who was responsible, whether Russians or Ukrainians.

Mining German coal

And this is where Europe has literally been left out in the cold. The inspectors who were hastily brought in only managed to sort things out after several laborious attempts. Even the most short-sighted observer must now have come to realise that Russian gas has to be scrubbed from the list when it comes to reliable energy sources. Political power games and price rip-offs clearly rank more highly in Moscow and Kiev than contract fidelity and security of supply. Even if this means holding the population of entire countries in eastern Europe as freezing hostages.

At least just as devastating is the realisation that in this argument the EU could offer a few strong words but essentially little else. Making yourself reliant on others means having to lower your sights. And let us hope that those who recommended that we should phase out nuclear power and coal in favour of more gas will also be eating humble pie for some time to come. While all this comes as no surprise it is something that cannot be repeated often enough: security of supply depends on having a broad-based energy mix. That means using all available energy sources, particularly the home-grown kind. That is, unless someone develops a process for generating heat and electricity from ideology.

 

Source:

IG BCE kompakt, www.igbce.de