Europe’s Green Energy Chaos

European Energy Transition is itself in transition. The policy set driving Europe's green energy transition plan and programmes is incoherent. Current goals and strategies are in most cases neither sustainable nor rational, as shown by growing political criticism and the loss of broad support amongst the public for what are perceived as expensive and unnecessary, irrational or perverse goals and strategies. One thing is sure: the present outlook for green energy transition in Europe is not sustainable and will change. --Andrew McKillop, 20 September 2011

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Energy-saving measures such as solar panels and double glazing fail to reduce bills in up to a quarter of homes, an official report has found. A trial of the UK coalition government’s £3 billion “green deal”, under which householders can take out government-backed loans of up to £10,000 to improve energy efficiency, showed that in some cases bills rose despite the measures. --Rowena Mason, The Daily Telegraph, 20 September 2011 In a blow to the coalition government’s green ambitions, the findings of the association’s £1.2 million, two-year national retrofit project, Future Fit, suggests the carbon savings delivered by the green deal will be much lower than expected. For each home there was a funding gap of around £3,000 between the net cost of the works and the value of the energy savings. Just 4.8 per cent of those approached took up the offer of free energy improvement works. --Nick Duxbury, Inside Housing, 2 September 2011

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Pensioners today urged London mayor Boris Johnson to tackle fuel poverty as it emerged that more vulnerable people than ever are struggling to pay their energy bills. More than one in four people in the capital are currently unable to meet their energy bills as rising prices and welfare reforms threaten to send even more into fuel poverty. --London Evening Standard, 19 September 2011 Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is confident a Coalition government can scrap the carbon pricing scheme, saying seizing carbon emission permits from business need not cost billions in compensation. Mr Abbott has vowed to scrap Labor's scheme, which is due to be passed by Parliament in November with the support of the Greens, if he is elected to government at the next election. --Paul Osborne, Australian Associated Press, 20 September 2011 President Obama’s much ballyhooed green jobs don’t just move to China; they sometimes aren’t even green. The Chinese government has responded with violence as villagers protest against a polluting solar panel factory near Shanghai. --Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia, 19 September 2011 Turkey said on Monday that it was ready to send warships to escort research vessels that would explore for oil and gas off the coast of Northern Cyprus, raising the stakes in a dispute over drilling rights around the divided island. --Marc Champion, The Wall Street Journal, 19 September 2011

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