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Central Europe’s Bad (Energy) Bet
Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2013, 04:04 PM - Edit history (3)
Central Europe’s Bad Bet
November 22, 2013 - 9:58am | admin
By Paul Hockenos
The ongoing UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw provides a unique opportunity to cast a spotlight on Central Europe’s energy policies. This may come just at the right time because the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, known as the Visegrad Group, are all in the process of making profound mistakes concerning their energy supplies, which will cost these countries dearly for decades to come.
While most of Europe is investing in renewable energies and planning for low-carbon power supplies, the Visegrad states are committing themselves to a future of coal, nuclear energy, and imported gas and oil. The cost of fossil fuels and nuclear power has soared in recent years, and will continue to increase, while the price of renewable energy has plummeted. Clean-energy technology has also greatly improved. Now that it is cost-effective even for countries with modest means and moderate sunlight, it makes no sense to continue investing in conventional energies.
Flawed energy strategies will not only separate the Visegrad Group from the European mainstream. They will also severely hamper long-term energy security, which is valued above all else. Memories of Russian aggression and postwar Soviet rule naturally make Central Europeans uncomfortable. Today, squeezed between Putin’s Russia and another enormous, historically unfriendly neighbor to their west, Germany, it is understandable that their foremost goal is energy autonomy.
Yet, tragically, by sticking to conventional energies, the Visegrad bloc is putting energy independence ever further out of reach. In the Czech Republic, fossil fuels account for about 80 percent of the primary energy supply, almost all of which is imported, and the lion’s share bought from Russia. Hungary and Slovakia are also prominent customers of Gazprom, a Russian gas company. Poland, the most energy autonomous of the group, relies heavily on its own coal reserves and Soviet-era coal-firing plants, the dirtiest in the EU. In fact, Poland is the biggest coal producer in Europe and the ninth largest worldwide. Even so, Russia supplies 90 percent and 65 percent of its oil and gas, respectively.
The Visegrad countries’ response to this quandary may sound logical— “diversity of supply.” The more kind of energy sources a nation uses, the less dependent it is on any one particular source. For Central Europeans, this potpourri includes conventional fossil fuels, nuclear power, and unconventional natural gas like shale gas, waste-to-energy incineration, and renewables....
November 22, 2013 - 9:58am | admin
By Paul Hockenos
The ongoing UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw provides a unique opportunity to cast a spotlight on Central Europe’s energy policies. This may come just at the right time because the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, known as the Visegrad Group, are all in the process of making profound mistakes concerning their energy supplies, which will cost these countries dearly for decades to come.
While most of Europe is investing in renewable energies and planning for low-carbon power supplies, the Visegrad states are committing themselves to a future of coal, nuclear energy, and imported gas and oil. The cost of fossil fuels and nuclear power has soared in recent years, and will continue to increase, while the price of renewable energy has plummeted. Clean-energy technology has also greatly improved. Now that it is cost-effective even for countries with modest means and moderate sunlight, it makes no sense to continue investing in conventional energies.
Flawed energy strategies will not only separate the Visegrad Group from the European mainstream. They will also severely hamper long-term energy security, which is valued above all else. Memories of Russian aggression and postwar Soviet rule naturally make Central Europeans uncomfortable. Today, squeezed between Putin’s Russia and another enormous, historically unfriendly neighbor to their west, Germany, it is understandable that their foremost goal is energy autonomy.
Yet, tragically, by sticking to conventional energies, the Visegrad bloc is putting energy independence ever further out of reach. In the Czech Republic, fossil fuels account for about 80 percent of the primary energy supply, almost all of which is imported, and the lion’s share bought from Russia. Hungary and Slovakia are also prominent customers of Gazprom, a Russian gas company. Poland, the most energy autonomous of the group, relies heavily on its own coal reserves and Soviet-era coal-firing plants, the dirtiest in the EU. In fact, Poland is the biggest coal producer in Europe and the ninth largest worldwide. Even so, Russia supplies 90 percent and 65 percent of its oil and gas, respectively.
The Visegrad countries’ response to this quandary may sound logical— “diversity of supply.” The more kind of energy sources a nation uses, the less dependent it is on any one particular source. For Central Europeans, this potpourri includes conventional fossil fuels, nuclear power, and unconventional natural gas like shale gas, waste-to-energy incineration, and renewables....
ETA: Just noticed that DU's software broke the link at the apostrophe. You can post the original in your browser or use this one.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F1jsjwvY&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFc9aTAaPy-5zxFMYXkovXH885FjA
http://tinyurl.com/europesbadbet
Broken: http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2013/11/22/central-europe’s-bad-bet
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