American Elephants

Germany is getting out of the solar business entirely. As a northern country, Germans have always had a romantic attachment to the sun, but it is just not working out. They were a major pioneer in solar energy. In mid-June, Siemens announced it was winding down its solar division with a plan to shut it down completely by next spring. Siemens bought the Israeli company Solel in the belief that market growth would be rapid. They lost around one billion euros. Bosch announced their withdrawal from the solar cell and solar module market in March. Private investors absorbed the greatest losses on the stock exchange.  Germany’s Solar World and Q-Cells with other solar companies lost tens of billions in capital investment.

The United Kingdom’s new analysis of government and industry figures revealed that every UK wind industry job is effectively subsidized to the tune of £100,000 per year. In some cases it goes up to £1.3 million per job. In Scotland with its 230 onshore windfarms, the figure is £154,000 per job.

With the discovery of the world’s biggest shale deposit in Britain in the Bowland shale basin with an estimated 2,281 tcf, just 10% of Bowland Shale would equal 130 billion cubic feet — or about 50 years of total UK consumption. And there are other shale deposits.

The energy situation is constantly changing with new discoveries and governments are having a hard time keeping up. Obama has declared a “War on Coal,”  but U.S. experts say it would take decades to develop enough capacity from other fuel sources to supplant coal. Brett Harvey, chief executive of Consul Energy Inc., which produces both coal and natural gas, said he doesn’t think Mr. Obama’s climate proposal aligns with “energy realities.” Oddly enough,  America is exporting wood pellets to Europe. And if Texas were a country, it would be one of the 15 largest oil producers in the world. Output has doubled in less than 3 years.

Obama’s biggest energy nightmare is, of course,  the Keystone XL pipeline. Unions badly want the pipeline built, for it means lots of high paying jobs, and Obama’s environmental backers want the pipeline halted permanently — just because. Obama wants to take back the House in the 2014 elections, and everything is directed to those ends, so he will attempt to stall, suggesting to each group that they will get their way “after the election.” The American people may need jobs, but that need is trumped every time by campaign money. Obama’s guiding rule is the permanent campaign. If he cannot win back the House in 2014, he will not get the legacy he wants. But his climate program does not align with energy realities, nor with climate realities.

Carbon dioxide is a natural fertilizer, it makes plants grow and is greening the planet. Plants need less water with the increase in carbon dioxide. This means more food for the world. Obama’s War on Energy will continue. He remains convinced that he must save the planet from dreaded “carbon pollution,” whatever that is. Climate reality isn’t in it,