Free Republic

Volkswagen could shut down as many as three factories in Germany and lay off tens of thousands of workers as it seeks to regain its edge in Europe amid slumping sales and increased competition from China, the company’s top employee representative said Monday. ***snip*** The representative, Daniela Cavallo, who leads the council representing the company’s employees in Germany, told a gathering of workers at Volkswagen’s home plant in Wolfsburg that the proposed closures were part of a plan that managers had presented to the works council. The company “wants to close at least three VW factories, downsize all remaining plants,...

Energy prices, particularly the cost of electricity, have skyrocketed since President Biden took office, outpacing inflation and putting a dent in Americans’ wallets. Since January 2021, electricity prices have soared 29.4% — 50% more than overall inflation — rising 13 times faster than the previous seven years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Meanwhile, in those seven years before Biden took office, electricity prices rose just 5%. News of the astronomical increase in electricity came in the wake of March’s Consumer Price Index, which showed US inflation rose 3.5% in March. Wednesday’s data...

But banning oil and gas too soon would be technically and financially unrealistic, the industry believes. "We can't bet on an all-electric solution, which would require an urgent and crazy-sum power network expansion," A ban would also close the door to hybrid systems that could gradually introduce more home-produced solar thermal and photovoltaic energy, and fill existing gas pipelines with renewable-derived gases, he added.

Legislative select committee opens inquiry into high energy bills.. Colorado’s high energy costs are partly due to a high-stakes regulatory "game" being played largely outside of the public’s view, said the official advocating for customers before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. A joint committee hearing on high energy costs at the statehouse Wednesday provided insights into the regulatory process that determines how much money investor-owned utilities make and how much utility consumers have to pay. “I would say if a rate payer is deciding between paying their heating bill or paying their prescriptions this month, then yes, something is wrong,”...

PJM Interconnection sounds the latest alarm that fossil-fuel plants are shutting down without adequate replacement power. The political class yawns. ... The warnings keep coming that the force-fed energy transition to renewable fuels is destabilizing the U.S. electric grid, but is anyone in government paying attention? ... The PJM report forecasts power supply and demand through 2030 across the 13 eastern states in its territory covering 65 million people. ... Fossil-fuel power plants are retiring much faster than renewable sources are getting developed, which could lead to energy “imbalances.” That’s a delicate way of saying that you can expect shortages...

Often I focus on bureaucratic regulation of energy because the ability to restrict use of energy is the ultimate societal control. Once they have obtained the ability to restrict use of energy, bureaucrats could, if they choose, take away most of our freedom to enjoy life and return us to the income levels of the Stone Age. Will they stop before going that far, making reasonable tradeoffs to enable the people to flourish economically? Or will they instead pursue environmental purity without concern for the well-being of the populace? So far all indications are that bureaucracies — and environmental bureaucracies...

Germany is becoming less attractive to top foreign talents, according to a new Bertelsmann/OECD study that will worry Olaf Scholz's government, which is trying to get more foreign skilled workers to fill labor market gaps. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) "Indicators of Talent Attractiveness," released on Thursday, shows Germany slipped from 12th place in 2019 to 15th this year among the 38 OECD countries. The analysis is based on seven "dimensions" that foreign talents are said to value: Quality of opportunities, income and tax, future prospects, family environment, skills environment, inclusiveness, and quality of life. The study...

Eversource has asked the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to approve an increase that the company said could increase the electric bill for an average customer by nearly 50 percent, or $85 per month, on the supply portion of the bill. Eversource said, if approved, the increased rates would be in effect from Jan. 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023. Eversource is looking to increase the Standard Service Rate for residential customers who receive their energy supply from Eversource from 12.1 cents per kilowatt-hour to 24.2 cents per kWh, compared to 11.5 cents per kWh last winter, Eversource said. The...

LONDON — Jennifer Jones keeps feeding money into her energy meter, but it never seems to be enough. And when she can't pay, she feels the impact immediately.The power in her London home has gone off suddenly three times recently, once when her partner was cooking an egg.The energy increases, together with rapidly rising food costs, are expected to push inflation above the 40-year high of 10.1% recorded in July and trigger a recession later this year, the Bank of England has predicted.

The White House's energy agenda is under fire as gasoline tops $4.17 per gallon. Republicans argue that President Joe Biden's temporary freeze on new drilling leases and other initiatives centered on clean energy have hurt the country's ability to produce its own oil and gas. Their criticism has ramped up as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine throws the global energy market into a tailspin, driving the price of crude oil up to $129 per barrel. "You talk about weakness on the part of Joe Biden. He comes to office, and what does he do?" Representative Josh Hawley said at...

Utilities are obligated to offer customers this choice. However, it can be expensive, should one decide to keep traditional meters in order to preserve health, privacy, and the ability to purchase truly cheaper electricity For those of you who have just heard of smart meters, or have had one placed on your home knowingly or unknowingly, or for those who think that said smart meters are a new development around the world to make it cheaper and easier for you to get electricity, gas and water via the smart grid, think again. Rationing and control of your usage of electricity,...

Unless western leaders find courage to stand against Islamists by blocking them from lax immigration entry, the mourning breaking the hearts of a watching citizenry has only just begun In Western Nations the mourning of innocents lost to terrorism has only begun Terrorism run rampant is the most tragic price the masses of all Western nations pay because Western leaders long ago succumbed to the control of the despicable go-along-to-get-along rules of the politically correct. There can be little doubt that Canada’s two terrorist attacks over a two-day span were a long time coming. In fact, the build up of...

Gina McCarthy insists reducing carbon emissions, fighting climate change boost economyGina McCarthy argued Thursday that her home state of Massachusetts is proof you can cut greenhouse gas emissions while fostering economic prosperity, but the Environmental Protection Agency administrator failed to mention the apparent trade-off for consumers: dramatically higher electricity prices. In a speech promoting President Obama’s climate change agenda, Ms. McCarthy ignored the fact that New England states — which nearly a decade ago formed the nation’s first regional “cap and trade” system — are dealing with electricity rates more than 35 percent higher than the national average. She also...

In case you ever wonder why the debate over global warming is important, remember that the left’s pushing of this notion has nothing to do with science and has everything to do with the big government expansion for which they need a rationale. And if you want a look at the real-life effect of this agenda, you can see it right now in the form of the EPA’s proposed carbon dioxide limits on new power plants. Not that liberals will listen, but the American Coal Council is doing what it can to warn of the effects this proposal will have...

Saving The Planet: It used to be said that socialism was the opium of the liberal intelligentsia. But now the drug of choice for the elite is environmentalism. The dirty little secret of the modern green movement is that it's become a luxury good for the uber-rich who espouse policies — from carbon taxes to renewable energy standards to closing down coal plants — that impose high costs on poor people who can least afford to pay the green tab. A Pew Research Center poll released last week offers further confirmation of this truism. It found that only two major...

Brazil is fighting against time to avoid crippling power blackouts and electricity rationing as a drought prevents the world's most water-rich nation from recharging its hydroelectric dams. A decade of growth has diversified the electricity system away from hydropower, but policymakers, industrial companies and investors in the world's seventh-largest economy may find little cause to relax.

So much for the denials. An administration that throughout its 2012 election campaign denied it was waging a War on Coal has now come out and publicly declared its intention to shut down coal-fired power plants – putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work and sending electricity prices skyrocketing. This is not what the American people voted for. Responding to a White House petition to end the War on Coal, the administration said: “The President has made clear that he understands that coal has played a critical role in our country’s energy portfolio for decades and will continue...

The Keystone XL pipeline will not be built unless it can be shown that it will not lead to a net increase in carbon emissions, President Barack Obama declared in a major Tuesday speech on climate change at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. While appearing to appease environmentalists, the announcement could mean that the project will move forward. "Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our national interest," he said. "And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. The net...

Democrat Running for Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe "As Governor, I never want another Coal Plant Built!" - RPVNetwork

Experts with the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne estimate that [German] consumers will have to pay more than €100 billion by 2022 for renewable energy facilities that have already been installed. Of the 28 cents household customers pay per kilowatt-hour of electricity today, 5.28 cents already applies to the [Renewable Energies Act] levy, and that figure is growing. There are many reasons for the cost explosion. Contrary to earlier forecasts, solar and wind farms are a long way from being able to produce energy at the prices possible in coal-fired or nuclear power plants. There are...