Germany “gets more than half of its natural gas needs from Russia” and “almost half of all German households heat their apartments and houses directly and much more indirectly via district heating,” reports German energy site Blackout News here. [bold, links added]
But to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin, German leaders are now calling on citizens to endure pain by cutting back on their consumption of natural gas to heat their homes and cook their food.
Already there’s talk of rationing natural gas over the coming winter, and German politicians are desperate to find a way to explain it.
“If you want to harm Putin a little, save energy,” said German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens party).
“Of course, ‘freeze to hurt Putin’ sounds better than ‘government rationing gas,” writes Blackout News, which expects Russian gas supplies will eventually be halted and rationing inevitable.
The construction of liquefied gas terminals in Germany that has been announced will take years to complete.
Currently, natural gas prices in Germany have skyrocketed to already painful levels. “Households with low incomes will soon not be able to afford heating,” says BlackOut News.
So much has the pressure grown in Germany to conserve gas that “a group of energy experts is already recommending that politicians change rental law regarding the minimum temperature in rented apartments. In doing so, the experts consider comfort restrictions next winter to be conceivable and possibly necessary,” reports Blackout News.
That means tenants may find themselves freezing in underheated apartments all winter long. But it’s all for a good cause, politicians are insisting.
Unless the bitter conflict between Russia and Ukraine gets resolved soon, which few experts believe, Germans and Europeans can expect a lot of pain, especially over the coming winter.
The bill for the country’s energy policy debacle is coming due, and it will be a real eye-popper.
The situation has become so critical that even Habeck now sees the light and “wants to bring coal-fired power plants back online and is even thinking about extending the operating lives of the last nuclear power plants”, two sources of energy that have long been vilified in Germany.
But generating electrical power from coal and nuclear will not solve the German heating problem, noted Blackout News. “It is completely utopian to believe that the heating system in 50 percent of all households can be quickly converted.”
Read more at No Tricks Zone
Why dont their Fearless Leaders do it first then maybe allow the Citizens to follow.This should happen to all the Divest in Fossil Fuels bunch of Useful Idiots
Some people may not be familiar with “minimum temperature in rented apartments.” My son who lives in Bothell in the state of Washington has such a requirement in his lease. The reason is to prevent mold from forming.
The focus of natural gas from Russia is now on the short term problem. However, Russia is likely to remain aggressive. Therefore Europe should start working on long term solutions. Many European nations, including Germany, have enough natural gas reserves to meet their needs. These need to be developed.
Perhaps German voters will volunteer their politicians sacrificing their jobs to hurt Putin, and stay warm.