Greens lay eggs of coal, read all about it!

From today's New York Times:

Marco Di Lauro for The New York Times

At a time when the world’s top climate experts agree that carbon emissions must be rapidly reduced to hold down global warming, Italy’s major electricity producer, Enel, is converting its massive power plant here from oil to coal, generally the dirtiest fuel on earth.

Italy’s Civitavecchia power plant is converting from oil to coal.
Over the next five years, Italy will increase its reliance on coal to 33 percent from 14 percent. Power generated by Enel from coal will rise to 50 percent.

And Italy is not alone in its return to coal. Driven by rising demand, record high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over energy security and an aversion to nuclear energy, European countries are expected to put into operation about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years, plants that will be in use for the next five decades.

The result of anti-nuclear policies in Italy and Germany are now showing it's real ugly side with the expansion of coal fired power plants. The politics of the Greens, among many others, are showing it's fundemental reactionary side of the debate in Europe.

Italy is an interesting case in point. In the panic over Chernobyl and rising costs, Italy shut down it's nuclear industry in one fell swoop. That made our Italian Greens feel real good. What they don't like to talk about is that Italy's major utilities are still major investors in the ultimate expression of NIMBYism: building/investing in nuclear outside the borders of Italy to be used inside of Italy!

What the self-satisfied objectively pro-coal elements of the architects of Italian anti-nuclear policy are hiding and downplaying is that most of northern Italy's grid is supported by very cheap French fission power. The Italians are investing in nuclear power all over the Balkans too, so they can get a piece of the power when the plants are built. Currently they are also involved in two French nuclear builds.

And, as the article from the NYT indicates the Italians are rushing to meed their growing load with new coal plants.

The Italians are not alone. Much was made of the "phase out" of nuclear power in Germany. Apparently the Germans are rethinking this as the solution to shutting down their nukes is was to build 26 new coal plants (since scalled back to 8 new coal plants). That there are no progressive voices for nuclear energy in Germany today shows how skewed the "left-right" labels are so misplaced. Could it be that if the current conservative German Chancellor is re-elected with an absolute majority that she will institute a progressive energy policy which includes building up Germany's nuclear power segment and ditching it's reactionary phase-out? How ironic....

David Walters
left-atomics.blogspot.com
energyfromthorium.com/portal