Coal Use Rockets in “Low Carbon” EU – Up By 1/3 in UK in Just ONE Year.

Startling new figures released recently by the British Government reveal that far from renewables providing the electricity for their much vaunted “Green Economy” it’s good old coal that has been providing the real electricity. Midwest Energy News reports that despite claims to have moved to renewables and cleaner gas, most of the EU is quietly moving back to coal in a big way, with coal use in some major countries up by almost a third in one year –

In Britain alone, the use of gas in power stations dropped 31 percent and the use of coal rose by the same amount from 2011 to 2012, driving a 4.5 percent increase in carbon emissions, according to figures released last week by the U.K. Department of Climate and Energy.

Midwest Energy News:  Coal Makes a Comeback in Europe.

This stealthy return to coal flies in the face of what the Greener-Than-Thou EU have been preaching to the rest of the world, but it is an undeniable fact, and one driven by the realisation that dramatic increases in the cost of electricity were driving industry into the ground.

Of course, outside the ivory towers of the EU parliament, staffed by the Grima Wormtongues of the Global Warming NGOs and their fantasies, the smart money has always known this would happen. The phrase “Money talks and bullsh** walks” has never been truer. As far back as 2007 market analysts Market Oracle were advising buying coal futures heavily. The more politicians talked about a renewable energy future, they said, the more you should buy coal –

The common misperception remains that the EU is replacing conventional power plants with renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar. That’s just not the case; in fact, whenever you hear talk of the rapid growth in wind and solar power in the EU, you should be thinking about investing more in coal and natural gas. Paradoxically, growth in renewable power capacity spells more demand for conventional power plants.

Market Oracle: Coal the Next Energy Resource Boom.

The analyst shrewdly notes that the more the EU invests in renewable energy, the more its reliance on traditional fuels increases. The only difference is that rather than cheap, plentiful power, Europe – thanks to decades of subsidy and tens of billions of dollars invested in renewables – is struggling to keep the lights on and has energy prices that are threatening to drive business overseas, and causing deep resentment and hardship among normal people.

Indeed, as this realisation finally sinks in among the bureaucrats running the EU,  there has been frantic backtracking on the long-heralded momentum towards carbon taxes. Connie Hedegaard, the European Union’s commissioner for climate action has been quietly sidelined, with the European Union’s energy commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, now calling the shots, in a desperate bid to avoid another recession caused by eye-wateringly high electricity prices. And Oettinger has made it very clear that despite what the EU might say in press releases, there will be no carbon tax in the EU –

For Europe to remain in the game, energy taxes must be held in check and no new taxes levied, said the European Union’s energy commissioner, Gunther Oettinger.

Midwest Energy News:  Coal Makes a Comeback in Europe.

So, despite all the fanfare about Europe leading the way into the renewables future, the reality is that the EU has now in practice dropped the commitment to renewable energy and is moving heavily back to coal. As Europe continues to shiver through yet another bitterly cold winter that seemingly just will not end, politicians are mouthing Green platitudes, whilst buying coal, hand over fist.

In all this, there is, though, one bit of good news for beleaguered European politicians – the low cost of imported coal from America. Thanks to Obama’s promise to drive coal-fired power production “into the ground” in America, coal has never been so cheap, and Europe is snapping up American coal at rock-bottom bargain prices.