Denmark- Seeming Green, But Questionable

Christian Friis Bach’s (recently appointed Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark) electric-powered vehicle was incapable of covering the 30 kilometers from his house to the palace without running out of power. So he put the electric mini-car inside a horse trailer and dragged it behind his petrol-owned Citroen for three-quarters of the trip, switching back to the mini-car when he neared the television cameras. The stunt produced more carbon emissions than if he had ditched the electric car and horse-trailer and driven a regular car the entire distance, reports Bjorn Lomborg. (1)

Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising. Danish politicians have insisted on subsidizing the world’s largest, Danish-based wind-turbine producer, Vestas, arguing that Denmark wins when other countries spend subsidies on Danish wind-farm technology. But when the Danish Economic Council examined the situation in 2004, it concluded that the country had lost money overall from expenditures on subsidies. More seriously, in today’s tough financial times, the solar and wind industries are downsizing production in expensive countries and shifting employment to cheaper economies. Last year, Vestas dismissed 3,000 employees in Denmark and Sweden. (1) President Obama has praised the Danes for their aggressive wind power program, telling an Earth Day audience in Iowa, “Today America produces less than 3 percent of our electricity through renewable energy sources like wind and solar—less than 3 percent.

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Now in comparison, Denmark produces almost 20 percent of their electricity through wind power.” The US Energy Information Administration tells America’s children that “Denmark ranks ninth in the world in wind power capacity, but generates 20 percent of its electricity from wind.” This sound impressive but are these lofty claims about Danish wind true? No, says Kenneth Green. Being highly intermittent, wind power has recently (2006) met as little as 5 percent of Denmark’s annual electricity consumption with an average over the last five year of 9.7 percent. (2) Danish consumers are the ones who take it on the chin. Denmark’s electricity prices are the highest in the entire European Union, and they pay subsidies of nearly $400 million a year to wind producers (in a country with less than 2 percent of the population of the United States. (3) And the greenhouse gas reduction benefits? Slim to none, since the exported wind power replaces hydropower, which does not produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. The wind power consumed in Denmark does displace some fossil fuel emissions, but at some cost: $124 per ton, nearly six times the price on the European Trading System. (2) In 1990, Denmark emitted a total of 50.7 million tons of carbon dioxide. In 2007, the country’s emissions totaled 50.6 million tons, a reduction of just 0.1 percent. (4) With regard to green jobs, wind-related jobs in Denmark are subsidized at the rate of 175 to 250 percent for each ‘green’ employee. (5) The effect of this has been to shift employment from more productive employment in other sectors to less productive employment in the wind industry. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that Denmark, like other early adopters of renewable power, is finding it unsustainable and is backing away from the technology. The Danish state-owned power industry will no longer build onshore wind turbines, and consumers are complaining about high energy rates and environmental despoliation. (2) Furthermore, Denmark and Germany have not decommissioned any fossil fuel plants. The fossil generators are kept in ‘spinning reserve’ burning fossil fuel to keep the lights on in the schools, factories, and hospitals when the wind dies. (6)

Summary

Many politicians are drawn to photo opportunities and lofty rhetoric about ‘building a green economy.’ Unfortunately, the green-energy policies currently being pursued are not helping the environment or the economy. As Bjorn Lomborg notes, “More likely, they will lead to greater emissions in China, more outsourcing to India, and lower growth rates for the well-intentioned ‘green’ countries.” (1) References

1. Bjorn Lomborg, “Seeming Green,” project-syndicate.org, November 4, 2011
2. Kenneth P. Green, “Rotten wind in the state of Denmark,” American Thinker, July 18, 2011
3. “The Status of Renewable Electricity Mandates in the States,” Institute of Energy Research
4. Robert Bryce, “Denmark is energy smart? Think again”, December 17, 2009
5. Grabriel Calzada et al., “Study of the effects on employment of public aid to renewable energy sources,” Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, March 2009
6. Dennis T. Avery, “ A chill hits wind power,” February 1, 2010