Walking the Walk

Rather than commenting on the editors’ of the Wall Street Journal’s chortling about Europe’s self-inflicted energy production problems:

Energy prices are soaring in Europe, and the effects are rippling across the Atlantic. Blame anti-carbon policies of the kind that the Biden Administration wants to impose in the U.S.

Electricity prices in the U.K. this week jumped to a record £354 ($490) per megawatt hour, a 700% increase from the 2010 to 2020 average. Germany’s electricity benchmark has doubled this year. Last month’s 12.3% increase was the largest since 1974 and contributed to the highest inflation reading since 1993. Other economies are experiencing similar spikes.

Europe’s anti-carbon policies have created a fossil-fuel shortage. Governments have heavily subsidized renewables like wind and solar and shut down coal plants to meet their commitments under the Paris climate accord. But wind power this summer has flagged, so countries are scrambling to import more fossil fuels to power their grids.

I just want to make one point. We should ban the export of compressed wood pellets. Period. An outright ban. Heed Yogi Berra’s advice. Although in theory there’s no difference between practice and theory in practice there is.

In theory wood pellets, widely used for heating in Europe, particularly in Germany, can be carbon neutral. You cut down one tree; you plant ten. In practice we’re clear-cutting old growth U. S. (and Canadian and Brazilian) forests so that the Germans can burn them in their stoves and feel good about how green they are. It’s a lie.