Nut zero (not my term but brilliant in my view) is dying. reality is a tough taskmaster and all of these problems are reaching a point where the people in every nation in Europe are going to rise and say, no more. end net zero, we need energy and we don't care about climate change. after all, climate change has always been a true luxury belief.
Professionally, I'm talking from time to time with the staff of a larger German energy provider. Completely brainwashed and on the "our future is bright and electric". Hopeless.
As suggested in the article the same is true of Norway.
A national front government in France would bring matters to a head. The French electricity customers are becoming aware of the cost of support for their neighbours is growing.
1: create an ideology that replaces religion for many.
2: once enough momentum is gained, push beyond sanity.
3: enjoy the insane finale in which a former industry nation gets dismantled.
The Swedish/Norwegian energy (hydroelectricity) rich nations are turning back to what really matters in politics (national security) and Germans will learn the hard way that beliefs don’t power your homes and cars.
I watched in disbelief as dumb Angela installed Energiewende as policy and blew up Germanys Nuclear plants (Blitzkriegs). That was 2010. Germany is now a complete and utter disaster existing on poor quality coal, costly LNG and the graces of the EU all striving to reach net zero. Unfortunately the rest of the "civilized" world followed, shutting down despatchable generation, and installing highly subsidized, useless, land hogging, bird and whale killing Rub Goldberg machines. Yet on we go, charging down the yellow brick road, hoping that we can control the gas of life and the natural cycles of our planet.
Thanks Rafe - great video. Oz is between a rock and a hard place with both major parties pouring dollars into subsidies for renewables. We lived in Qld in the late 80's working at Boyne Smelters in Gladstone. Oz is a great country, but the pols are clueless on both sides. Wife's family are from NZ and we have many friends in both countries.
A union divided against itself cannot stand. But then it's hard to keep it going when the burdens are not distributed evenly, and some countries refuse to pay the price for their mistakes.
Germany is country of extremes. Once they lock in on an ideology - they go and there's no pivoting. Freaking Greens celebrating closure of nuclear power plants - taking 0 responsibility over braun coal thermal power.
Nice article, Brawl. I have one point of disagreement with the sentence where you say Germany and Sweden are both acting rationally. Sweden is acting rationally by demanding higher prices for those pesky electrons that the Germans require. Germany is acting irrationally thinking they shouldn’t have to pay a market price for the pleasure of not freezing.
On a side note, there was a lot of hope that Sweden would remove the moratorium on domestic uranium mining. If memory serves, I think the Swedes just voted to keep the ban in place which was a disappointing result.
Yes - though the creeping ideological sabotage (Climate Apocalypse; "decolonisation"; DEI; etc.) might be enough. E.g. fracking banned in Britain (with the two Cuadrilla wells now cement plugged). E.g. the Iberian blackout (April 28, 2025). E.g. 2025, NERC determines 13 of 23 grids strained...
Meanwhile China uses Germany's survival tactics during WW1 blockade & Russia (Rosatom) dominates nuclear & uranium supply.
For years the Swedes and possibly other Scandinavians have become increasingly impatient with Germany and probably Britain as well because the instability of their absurdly wind-dependent systems causes problems in the countries that are connected to them.
The fundamental failure was to take no notice of wind droughts, that were well-known in some circles for ever, like sailors and millers. And observers on the oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.
A chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Windless nights are the weak link in the RE chain. And on windless nights, wind and solar capacity ain’t capacity at all!
Cheap energy drives manufacturing growth. Look at China. They have built new energy generation like crazy: nuclear, coal, solar, hydro, anything and everything. Germany, meanwhile, has shot itself in the foot.
As Europe shrinks into deeper darkness & cold, blood-lusting & rape-crazed creatures from black lands rush around the streets, into schools and hospitals, into care-homes for the old, in and out of shops, teeming in public spaces, burning churches - raping & murdering European people.
Seems like a health-emergency much worse than Covid.
Nut zero (not my term but brilliant in my view) is dying. reality is a tough taskmaster and all of these problems are reaching a point where the people in every nation in Europe are going to rise and say, no more. end net zero, we need energy and we don't care about climate change. after all, climate change has always been a true luxury belief.
Well put!
Great term! Thanks for sharing.
Professionally, I'm talking from time to time with the staff of a larger German energy provider. Completely brainwashed and on the "our future is bright and electric". Hopeless.
As I write all the time, I hope the folks in Germany have a lot of sweaters and blankets for next winter, they are going to need them
Well, I started preparing already 5 years ago, and accepted to be marked as extreme-right-prepper-tinfoil-hat-wearer-you-know-how-they-are.
Welcome to the club!
good for you
As suggested in the article the same is true of Norway.
A national front government in France would bring matters to a head. The French electricity customers are becoming aware of the cost of support for their neighbours is growing.
Solidarity usually ends when people can see the difference directly in their power bills.
A drama in 3 acts comes to a close.
1: create an ideology that replaces religion for many.
2: once enough momentum is gained, push beyond sanity.
3: enjoy the insane finale in which a former industry nation gets dismantled.
The Swedish/Norwegian energy (hydroelectricity) rich nations are turning back to what really matters in politics (national security) and Germans will learn the hard way that beliefs don’t power your homes and cars.
Next up: divine comedy?
That 3 act piece started in 1995 with the first COP. Roughly thirty years to reach the finale. The timeline tracks.
I watched in disbelief as dumb Angela installed Energiewende as policy and blew up Germanys Nuclear plants (Blitzkriegs). That was 2010. Germany is now a complete and utter disaster existing on poor quality coal, costly LNG and the graces of the EU all striving to reach net zero. Unfortunately the rest of the "civilized" world followed, shutting down despatchable generation, and installing highly subsidized, useless, land hogging, bird and whale killing Rub Goldberg machines. Yet on we go, charging down the yellow brick road, hoping that we can control the gas of life and the natural cycles of our planet.
The triple failure of the green transition in Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT3msy7nvFw
Thanks Rafe - great video. Oz is between a rock and a hard place with both major parties pouring dollars into subsidies for renewables. We lived in Qld in the late 80's working at Boyne Smelters in Gladstone. Oz is a great country, but the pols are clueless on both sides. Wife's family are from NZ and we have many friends in both countries.
The "best" part about it: Merkel is a trained physicist.
Energy insanity is starting to rear itself. Nut Zero is exactly right as Andy stated. The western world is its own worst enemy regularly these days.
The Hormuz crisis might be the "transition's" final nail in the coffin though.
Wouldn’t that be nice.
A union divided against itself cannot stand. But then it's hard to keep it going when the burdens are not distributed evenly, and some countries refuse to pay the price for their mistakes.
Correct.
Germany is country of extremes. Once they lock in on an ideology - they go and there's no pivoting. Freaking Greens celebrating closure of nuclear power plants - taking 0 responsibility over braun coal thermal power.
Germany being one of Europe's biggest CO2 emitters after decades of Green policy: ideology amped up to idiocy.
Nice article, Brawl. I have one point of disagreement with the sentence where you say Germany and Sweden are both acting rationally. Sweden is acting rationally by demanding higher prices for those pesky electrons that the Germans require. Germany is acting irrationally thinking they shouldn’t have to pay a market price for the pleasure of not freezing.
On a side note, there was a lot of hope that Sweden would remove the moratorium on domestic uranium mining. If memory serves, I think the Swedes just voted to keep the ban in place which was a disappointing result.
Irrational long-term cooperation. Rational short-term self-preservation.
It looks like the uranium mining ban has been lifted: https://www.caesarsreport.com/reports/report-district-metals-sweden-lifts-uranium-ban-establishes-viken-as-large-european-resource/
Fair counterpoint. Thanks for the link regarding the uranium ban being lifted.
Energy security - not just the husbanding & securing of a resource but a guarding of the infrastructure...
Do those cables cut as easily as internet transmission lines?
Are there competent guards at the substations?
The high-trust society is gone & our energy structure is often laid bare.
Right. After Nord Stream those are not a hypothetical question anymore.
Yes - though the creeping ideological sabotage (Climate Apocalypse; "decolonisation"; DEI; etc.) might be enough. E.g. fracking banned in Britain (with the two Cuadrilla wells now cement plugged). E.g. the Iberian blackout (April 28, 2025). E.g. 2025, NERC determines 13 of 23 grids strained...
Meanwhile China uses Germany's survival tactics during WW1 blockade & Russia (Rosatom) dominates nuclear & uranium supply.
For years the Swedes and possibly other Scandinavians have become increasingly impatient with Germany and probably Britain as well because the instability of their absurdly wind-dependent systems causes problems in the countries that are connected to them.
The fundamental failure was to take no notice of wind droughts, that were well-known in some circles for ever, like sailors and millers. And observers on the oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-curious-tale-of-the-north-sea-winds/
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/the-sinister-threat-of-wind-droughts
A chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Windless nights are the weak link in the RE chain. And on windless nights, wind and solar capacity ain’t capacity at all!
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/wind-and-solar-aint-capacity
Exactly. Systems break at the margin, not on the average.
Scandinavians had better break free before the EU parasitises them.
Norway has been travelling down this route since 2022.
https://watt-logic.com/2025/02/21/norway-turning-away-from-electricity-interconnection/
Great article.
Cheap energy drives manufacturing growth. Look at China. They have built new energy generation like crazy: nuclear, coal, solar, hydro, anything and everything. Germany, meanwhile, has shot itself in the foot.
Correct.
As Europe shrinks into deeper darkness & cold, blood-lusting & rape-crazed creatures from black lands rush around the streets, into schools and hospitals, into care-homes for the old, in and out of shops, teeming in public spaces, burning churches - raping & murdering European people.
Seems like a health-emergency much worse than Covid.
“build a system that works, and Brussels will treat it as a communal asset.” Brussels? That’s every socialist and most liberal system on earth.
It’s democracy.
Moreover it’s every woman on earth.
The EU energy policy is like dancing to someone to two left feet, it's not going to work
That’s the tension.
The system works as long as the country providing stability is willing to absorb the cost.
Sweden built dispatchable power. Germany built dependence on it.
At some point that stops being cooperation—
and starts looking like subsidizing someone else’s policy choices.
That’s when the structure breaks.