March 19, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Will the energy crisis hit the global economy?

While Greta Thunberg sings and dances merrily at some fest there, the Swedish authorities commit a terrible crime, which practically cancels out Greta’s irreconcilable struggle with climate change.

Greta’s childhood is being stolen again, right now. And it is not Vladimir Putin who does this, but the good-looking democratic leaders of the “civilized” countries. Including in Sweden, native to Greta.

For example, quite recently, one of the old and out-of-order power plants was repaired and launched there. And all would be fine – after all, electricity is now very much needed and its obvious deficit is felt, but the Karlhamn power plant, with a capacity of 300 MW, operates on … fuel oil. Yes, yes, on this black, stinking, non-ecological slurry, which, when burned, emits a huge amount of greenhouse gases. The worst dream of a righteous environmentalist that has come true.

And yet, coal is burned in many European countries. The same coal, which they denied, was rejected and branded as unsustainable. But now he again blazes merrily in the furnaces of many power plants and gives people heat and electricity.

Wood pellets were also used. This is such a fuel from wood waste – shavings, sawdust, crushed bark and all that stuff, compressed into small neat pellets that burn well enough. They are also available in retail, and many people, frightened by the energy crisis, actively buy them to keep it warm and cozy in winter.

In the Baltics – just some kind of betrayal is going on. Not only did Latvia and Estonia buy electricity from Russia again, but they somehow stopped talking about leaving the BRELL energy ring. But this was practically a national idea. However, it may be temporary. After all, politics is stronger than common sense.

And in Estonia, all of a sudden, the legacy of the “Soviet occupation” came in handy. Several power plants that use oil shale as fuel, which are also considered terribly dirty and generally a symbol of the old days, had to be reopened, and they are helping Estonia to cope with the energy crisis.

Some leaders of the countries “in the bazaar” are looking for someone to buy cheaper gas. The vice-premier of Moldova went to Poland for this, but there are problems there and Poland is unlikely to be able to offer Moldova any acceptable conditions. Moldova could buy gas from Russia, but here politics and the passionate desire of the “partners” to get gas as cheaply as possible again interfere, and in return give nothing at all. Well, it can once again demand “the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria.”

The whole world is waiting for winter, which, according to weather forecasters, this year can be very uncomfortable. European underground gas storages are not full, and prices on the stock exchange jump like an unbroken mustang under a young cowboy. Rumors about the conclusion of new gas supplies between the United States and China are adding oil to the fire, since in this case the United States will simply ignore the European market, supplying its “freedom molecules” to Asia, where their prices are even higher. The invisible hand of the market, yes.

Qatar says it has reached its gas export limits, and it will take years and huge investments to ramp up production.

And it looks like the world is only at the very beginning of the problems. Because the energy crisis will inevitably hit the entire economy, primarily the manufacturing sector. And this will mean inflation, which already exists due to the unsecured trillions poured into the economy during the pandemic. In addition, production problems begin in China. Microchips are no longer enough, now magnesium is next in line, which is needed in the automotive and aircraft industries. Even IKEA claims a shortage, since a significant part of its products are also made in China.

Under these conditions, will the world be able to hold on and not collapse into the abyss of a new economic crisis, which will be more terrible than the previous ones? Many economists have long warned about such a crisis, but who will listen to these alarmists? But now the world is very close to the edge of the abyss. And it seems that there is not enough one “black swan” to collapse there.

NF





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