The author is a German professor named Hans-Werner Sinn. His bio says he is a German economist who served as President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research from 1999 to 2016. He currently serves on the German Economy Ministry’s advisory council. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Finance at the University of Munich.
What’s refreshing is he writes using facts when he discusses the realities of energy production. Germany has almost completed its program of shutting down both its coal powered and nuclear-powered electrical generation facilities. But since wind and solar account for 6.7% of the total energy requirements for the country it uses gas to heat most of its homes and businesses.
And even though 29% of electrical generation comes from wind and solar, whenever these resources fail (which is often) the full load of the electrical grid is powered by gas powered plants. Therefore, Germany has built a large number of gas-powered plants to supposedly allow the transition to 100% renewables. So currently, Germany is hopelessly dependent on Russian gas for heat and power. And even if the whole German land mass was covered in solar cells and the sky was filled with wind turbines they would still need a large amount of gas to heat their homes and run their industry.
Germany’s posturing about boycotting Russian gas is just that. Posturing. If Russia were to cut off gas from Germany the country would grind to a halt in less than a week. And several other European nations are in a similar situation. This makes Biden’s threats especially hollow.
Reading Sinn’s essay, I am struck that the Greens in Germany have slit their own throats. Germany had 17 nuclear power plants and an abundance of coal in the ground. They threw these things away to pay the Russians for gas that produces more of the “dreaded” green house gases than they used to produce.
Good. Let them stew on their current situation and possibly discover wisdom.
Personally, I hope the Russians do shut off gas to the West for a few weeks. I think it’s valuable for people to get what they say they want. It has a clarifying effect. Sometimes it’s even educational, depending on the intellect of the recipient.