As the natural gas crisis in Europe intensifies, the European Union plans to reduce natural gas consumption by 15% this winter. German cities are the first to start the difficult time of the community, taking various measures, such as turning off hot water in public facilities and turning off the lights of tourist landmarks...

Since the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Europe has suffered a backlash for following the pace of US sanctions against Russia, triggering the most serious energy crisis since the 1980s. How are the lives of Europeans in this crisis? What measures have countries taken to deal with the social crisis caused by this energy shortage? It's clear that "throttling" to limit energy consumption is no longer enough.

As long as it can generate electricity, the British no longer mind whether it is clean or not

The United Kingdom is the first country in the West to use coal on a large scale. Since the 18th century, cheap coal has replaced expensive and scarce wood and has become the main energy source for British industry. It is no exaggeration to say that the driving force of the British Industrial Revolution was provided by coal burning of.

But coal, an unenvironmentally friendly fuel, has seen its share in Britain's energy mix plummet in recent years, leaving room for greener renewables to grow. According to recent UK government figures, the share of coal-fired electricity in the country’s total electricity generation has fallen from 26% in 2010 to 7% in 2020.

The UK initially planned to close all coal power plants in the country by 2025, but later announced that it would do so by October 2024, a year earlier. But it now appears that the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict may prevent the British government from achieving this ambitious environmental goal as expected.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had a huge impact on the international energy market. Continental European countries that were heavily reliant on Russian energy were temporarily unable to find alternative energy sources from other sources, resulting in the shutdown of many factories and the closure of enterprises. Although the UK is not as heavily dependent on Russian energy as the continental countries, Norway, which supplies the UK with natural gas, and France, which provides electricity, may be forced to cut off their supply to the UK because they are too busy. This domino effect may lead to large-scale power outages in the UK this winter. .

After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the UK's energy supply situation has become increasingly stretched. To prepare for a rainy day, business secretary Quatten wrote to executives at the National Grid power system operator in May, asking them to negotiate with the parent companies of the three coal plants for a delay in shutting down the coal, which was previously seen as polluting the environment. power plant.

Hoarding firewood for winter, Germans play 'crossing' game

Although the UK has caused many controversies around nuclear power plants and coal power plants, nuclear power plants and coal power plants can, after all, “make up for nothing” when traditional energy sources are scarce. Germany, which is located in continental Europe, is even worse than the UK, because Germany There are few alternatives to traditional energy sources.

Even wind power is reliant on natural gas, fertilizer production is shut down, and the entire European Union is choked by Russia. Somehow they made it through this winter and the nation cheered when they blew up coal-fired power plants. Only one of the remaining 27 coal-fired power plants is still operational. No workers, rusted equipment, rails torn down, no coal, and heavily polluted World War II trains pulled from warehouses to pull coal. Perhaps some statements are inevitably exaggerated, but the energy crisis faced by Germany is very serious, and it is true that Germany has abandoned nuclear power and abandoned coal power.

French scholar Jean-Jacques Guy recently wrote that: "Germany and some European countries maintain a firm anti-nuclear stance, try to marginalize nuclear power, and reject the last opportunity provided by the Ukraine crisis." He believes that the energy crisis experienced by Europe this year caused the cause From within Europe, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is far from the decisive cause, but since March this year, the sanctions imposed on Russia have had a self-destructive impact on the EU. It is absurd to simply and rudely get rid of fossil fuels.

In order to spend the winter, many Germans are even preparing to "traverse" the historical tunnel, one foot across the gas era, the other across the coal-burning era, and returning to the wood-burning era.

As Germany's energy crisis worsens, many German households are hoarding firewood for winter fires. In mid-August, the German word for "firewood" hit a new high in searches on Google's website. To prevent panic buying, some firewood sellers have been forced to introduce "restricted purchases". The Federal Association of the German Firewood Industry recently announced that there is no more firewood on the market.

The future of European energy

Pulling one hair and moving the whole body, Russia just pinched the natural gas, and Europe was plunged into a quagmire from top to bottom.

The EU is now discussing how best to protect households and businesses in countries, exploring tools such as gas price caps, and providing more financial subsidies. Brouillette, the U.S. energy secretary under the Trump administration, said the EU's subsidy policy to reduce electricity costs could be described as a "Ponzi scheme". "It relieves the immediate pain of not being able to pay the electricity bill, but the money just goes from the consumer to the utility, and it's not a long-term solution." He also said that global energy markets will be tighter as winter approaches , more energy will be used for heating and other purposes.

To make matters worse, the OPEC+ group also made a symbolic cut to its oil output target yesterday. The only solution, Brouillette said, is to increase production, but that won't happen overnight. European politicians are still trying to prevent a local gas crisis, but larger economic crises such as bankruptcies appear to be on the horizon.

At a time when the global supply chain is still connected, European companies are both upstream and downstream. Once systemic risks arise, who can escape? The Sword of Damox now seems to hang over more nations.

The current inflationary pressure in Europe comes from the shortage of energy supply. As an energy-poor Europe, only by solving the energy supply problem can we get out of the crisis completely. To a large extent, the future of the European economy depends on the future of European energy.

All in all, Europe is under severe energy crisis and inflationary pressure, and the European economy faces downside or even recession risks. High inflation will inevitably affect economic growth, and many industries will relocate to lower-cost countries and regions. Once the industrial chain moves out, the economic collapse will not be far away. Europe needs to rethink its place in the world order. Editor / Xu Shengpeng