We Want to get, like, Totally Decarbonized, Man

Europe's resistance to shale gas could boost renewables

We are cheerfully told that blindingly expensive and unreliable “resistance” will get a big boost in Europe because Europe has rejected the idea that shale gas is any sort of option their élite green mafia will countenance.

Unless carbon capture and storage can be developed on a commercial scale, that means gas as a fuel has a limited future and should not be invested in too heavily, environmental campaigners say.

They are especially against shale gas, whose environmental credentials are questioned in Europe.

Of course it will get “a boost.” All other, cheaper, more productive, and non-impoverishing forms of energy are being held hostage by taxing any form of energy commensurate with unapproved thoughts, not to mention their energetic potential.
They also demand a public enthusiasm for it as well – akin to the vigorous marching in a May Day Parade.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say this is good news for renewables. "When shale is removed from the market, renewables gain more ground," they wrote in a report earlier this year.

Really? You don’t say?

And given that no market can function unmolested in yet another disastrous utopia building effort:

"We need natural gas as a transition fuel. However, we don't need such a huge amount of gas and certainly not cheap gas, because that would kick out not just coal, but also renewables," Greenpeace renewable energy director Sven Teske said.

It seems that quotes from Greenpeace is all it takes to turn something into ‘news’. Oddly enough, even a small amount of reporting on the subject undermines the argument, and reips the mask off of those making the case too.

Investment in renewable energy rose by 5% to a record €208 billion worldwide in 2011, but that growth depended to a large degree on government subsidies.

If subsidies are cut, the risk for Europe is that cheap coal - not gas - could dominate the market and carbon emissions carry on rising.
Most utilities in Europe cannot earn a profit from their electricity if it is generated from gas at today's prices, because gas - in contrast to cheap US gas - is too expensive, and coal and carbon emissions certificates are relatively cheap.

And yet the product is taxed to subsidize politically vain forms of energy to, you know, make it seem “profitable,” as if that alone made its’ cost to society neutral.