Sleepwalking Into an Energy Disaster

 Sleepwalking Into an Energy Disaster – Todd Strandberg - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ For many years the US government warned Germany of the dangers of becoming dependent on Russia for its supply of natural gas. Germany ignored our advice and proceeded to becomeall the more addicted to Russian natural gas. As of last year, Germany imported 80% of this form of fuel from Russia. In 2018 President Trump spoke in a UN speech about how dangerous it was for Germany to become dependent on Russia. The German diplomats at the UN openly laughed at Trump.Now that Russia has cut off the supply of natural gas to the German economy, no one in Berlin is laughing. The brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops has forced the European Union to pull away from Moscow. The EU’s 27 member states agreed to voluntarily cut gas consumption by 15% between August and March 2023. The ultimate plan is to cut all oil and gas imports from Russia.Here are some early steps that nations are taking to break the dependence on Russian natural gas: In Germany, Cologne’s magnificent cathedral — normally lit throughout the night — now goes dark overnight. Public buildings, museums, and other landmarks — such as the BrandenburgGate in Berlin — will no longer be illuminated overnight either. In France, Shopkeepers will now be fined for keeping doors open and air conditioning running, a common practice. In Spain, Congress agreed to temperature limitations — air conditioning no cooler than 81 degrees Fahrenheit. In Italy, air conditioning in schools and public buildings has already been limited in what the government labeled “Operation Thermostat.” Europe is facing an energy crisis, and most people still don’t grasp its full magnitude. Natural gas is very hard to move from one place to the other. You cannot store largequantities of it. Some nations’ operating plan is to buy natural gas from Norway. It will take each one of them a few years to tap into Norwegian gas fields. The question is, what are they going to do this year? It is very dangerous to become over-dependent on one form of energy. Many areas of China rely heavily on hydropower for the production of electricity. A drought has forcedChina to close factories because there is not enough water to run turbines. Texas learned about the need for energy diversity when cold weather in 2019 greatly hampered its supply of natural gas for electrical production. I had no idea that cold weather canfreeze up gas wells. It has become very popular to ban the usage of fossil fuels by a given date. The California Air Resources Board just approved regulations that ban the sale of new gas-enginevehicles by 2035, requiring all new cars to run on electricity or hydrogen. Despite the strong demand for electric cars, sales made up only 3% of total car sales last year. The board mandated that by 2025, 40% of all cars should be carbon neutral. There is no chance we will meet this goal. They might as well vote that all cars should be able to fly by 2030. We do not have the capability of transmitting the power neededto charge that many vehicles. We do not produce enough key metals to build that many cars. Something in the order of about 90% of the lithium that’s used in batteries is processed in China right now, which is not a desirable situation. The Democratic Republicof Congo produces 70% of the world’s supply of cobalt. With an average price of an electric vehicle currently $66,000, most people cannot afford one. The Paris Agreement on climate change is a key reason why energy prices are so high. As soon as it was adopted by 196 Parties on 12 December 2015, oil companies quit investingin fossil fuels. Seven years later, we are still using these products, and they are at record highs in price. Some people are waking up and are trying to prepare for the coming energy disaster. In Poland, people have lined up for days to buy coal. A small town in Germany of 60 peoplehas been stockpiling sawdust to power homes and businesses. There has been one factor that has forced people to face reality. In the past few months, businesses have started receiving shocking gas and electricity bills. One pub ownerin Great Britain was told her annual gas bill would go from $30,000 to $60,000 over the next year. Most bills have doubled, but some have gone up as much as 500%. Millions of businesses still weak from the COVID-19 lockdown will be forced to close forever. I firmly believe that demonic insanity is the only way to explain why world energy policies have become removed from basic common sense. As the world becomes more evil, thedevil has greater control over the minds of people. “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13).