A new study by Werner Daldorf, head of the Investment Committee at the German Wind Energy Association, confirms that not even the huge government subsidies - several times the market price - make German wind parks profitable:
But newly released numbers, collected and analyzed over a several-year period, show what disappointed investors have long surmised: Around half of these commercial wind park enterprises are doing so poorly that investors can count themselves lucky if they even get their initial investment back after the 20 year duration. --
Over time, Daldorf has collected a vast amount of material, filling shelves and shelves of binders. Taken together, it allows for an unprecedented look at the business affairs of over 170 commercial wind parks over the course of more than 10 years.
The result is sobering. On average, investors have received an annual return of just 2.5 percent. "Over the course of 10 years, that means a return of 25 percent, while according to the prospectus they were to have already seen returns of between 60 and 80 percent," Daldorf says.
Even if returns were to increase dramatically in the coming years -- a possible result, for example, of funds paying down their debts -- only wind parks in the best locations are likely to prove profitable. The picture becomes even worse once one digs into the details. A fifth of all wind parks for which more than 10 years of annual reports are available haven't once paid their investors a dividend exceeding 2 percent of their investments. --
Daldorf's findings are surprising given the substantial subsidies the state has provided to renewable energies over the years. The guaranteed feed-in tariff for a kilowatt hour of electricity generated by a renewable energy technology currently averages 17 cents. That is several times the market price. Indeed, generous state support is one reason that green investment vendors continue to advertise using slogans such as "You Too Can Profit from the Energiewende," as Germany's switch from nuclear power to renewables is called.
Read the entire article here
The German example should be a warning to all other countries, where "green" governments use taxpayers' money to subsidise these ineffective, bird killing, landscape destroying monsters. Green capitalism is not what its promoters claim it to be.
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Friday, 31 January 2014
R.K. Pachauri discloses the IPCC's secret weapon against errors - "a formal protocol for any errors that have to be corrected"
R.K. Pachauri reveals the IPCC's secret weapon against errors: "a formal protocol for any errors that have to be corrected"!
What lessons were learnt from the controversies over the previous report, such as the overconfident predictions on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers? The fact is that this is a human undertaking, which involves literally thousands of scientists and, therefore, we need to be prepared for the possibility of some errors.
However, to eliminate errors, we have certainly made sure that all the authors are clearly cautioned about being very careful in assessing any literature, making sure that whatever they include in the report is robust and defendable.
So we are taking extra steps, but we still do realise that, in any human undertaking such as this, errors can occur. And, therefore, to deal with them, we now have a formal protocol for any errors that have to be corrected.
So rest assured, even if "errors can occur" in "any human undertaking", the IPCC's magic protocol is there to fix it! Hopefully railway engineer Pachauri will soon give us some examples of how the protocol has been applied.
What lessons were learnt from the controversies over the previous report, such as the overconfident predictions on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers? The fact is that this is a human undertaking, which involves literally thousands of scientists and, therefore, we need to be prepared for the possibility of some errors.
However, to eliminate errors, we have certainly made sure that all the authors are clearly cautioned about being very careful in assessing any literature, making sure that whatever they include in the report is robust and defendable.
So we are taking extra steps, but we still do realise that, in any human undertaking such as this, errors can occur. And, therefore, to deal with them, we now have a formal protocol for any errors that have to be corrected.
So rest assured, even if "errors can occur" in "any human undertaking", the IPCC's magic protocol is there to fix it! Hopefully railway engineer Pachauri will soon give us some examples of how the protocol has been applied.
Thursday, 30 January 2014
Angela Merkel is not honest about the Europan Union and the euro
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (a de facto social democrat) is right, when she says that the euro crisis is not yet over. But she is not honest, when she states that a "real economic union" is what is needed in order to solve the crisis:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a fresh push to create “real economic union” through changes to European treaties, saying that the euro-area debt crisis isn’t yet defeated.
Addressing lawmakers in Berlin today in her first policy speech of the year, Merkel said that Europe risks falling behind unless the 18-nation euro region expands binding commitments and improves its current “unsatisfactory” coordination on economic policy.
“Without decisive progress on this front, without a quantum leap, we won’t overcome the European sovereign-debt crisis,” Merkel said. “We might learn to live with it somehow, but we won’t keep our place at the top of global development.” --
“It has to be Europe’s aim to emerge from the crisis stronger than it went in,” Merkel said. “Because that is so, we can’t trust the deceptive calm we’re seeing right now” in the euro area. The currency union must be deepened “and I’m convinced that this requires further development of the EU’s treaties,” she said.
Read the entire article here
Merkel knows very well that the euro crisis cannot be solved without the European Union becoming a real political union - a federal European state - but she does not want to say it. Instead she is mumbling about "further development of the EU's treaties", because she knows that neither the majority of German voters, nor the voters in other EU countries, are prepared to support a federal European state.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a fresh push to create “real economic union” through changes to European treaties, saying that the euro-area debt crisis isn’t yet defeated.
Addressing lawmakers in Berlin today in her first policy speech of the year, Merkel said that Europe risks falling behind unless the 18-nation euro region expands binding commitments and improves its current “unsatisfactory” coordination on economic policy.
“Without decisive progress on this front, without a quantum leap, we won’t overcome the European sovereign-debt crisis,” Merkel said. “We might learn to live with it somehow, but we won’t keep our place at the top of global development.” --
“It has to be Europe’s aim to emerge from the crisis stronger than it went in,” Merkel said. “Because that is so, we can’t trust the deceptive calm we’re seeing right now” in the euro area. The currency union must be deepened “and I’m convinced that this requires further development of the EU’s treaties,” she said.
Read the entire article here
Merkel knows very well that the euro crisis cannot be solved without the European Union becoming a real political union - a federal European state - but she does not want to say it. Instead she is mumbling about "further development of the EU's treaties", because she knows that neither the majority of German voters, nor the voters in other EU countries, are prepared to support a federal European state.
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
The tripling of Iraq's oil production capacity could mean the end of the Putin regime
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| The end of the Putin regime not that far away if things go well in Iraq |
You may remember what investor William Browder said only a few days ago:
There is nothing behind the facade of Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia, says William Browder from Hermitage Capital Management."All it will take is a fall in the price of oil to $60 a barrel and Putin will be gone within a year.
If things go well in Iraq, the end of the Putin regime might not be very far away:
Iraq is poised to flood the oil market by tripling its capacity to pump crude by 2020 and is collaborating with Iran on strategy in a move that will challenge Saudi Arabia's grip on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth," Hussain al-Shahristani, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy in Iraq told oil industry delegates attending a Chatham House Middle East energy conference.
Al Shahristani said on Tuesday that Iraq plans to boost its capacity to produce oil to 9m barrels a day (bpd) by the end of the decade as Baghdad rushes to bolster its economy, which is still shattered by war and internal conflict. Iraq was producing 3m bpd in December, according to the International Energy Agency.
Iraq's intention to challenge Saudi Arabia's status as the "swing producer" in the OPEC cartel could see a dramatic fall in oil prices if Baghdad decides to break the group's quotas and sell more of its crude on the open market.
Read the entire article here
Read the entire article here
German solar energy losing its shine: Jobs more than halved in two years - 55% less capacity installed last year
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| Solar module on German Autobahn (wiki) |
In spite of being heavily subsidized, German solar energy is losing its shine:
The number of jobs in the German solar energy industry has more than halved in two years, figures released by the government on Tuesday revealed.
Unable to keep up with competition with Chinese producers, big solar producers such as Conergy, Solon and Q-Cells have all registered for insolvency over the past few years.
With their demise came job losses. Figures from the Federal Office for Statistics, seen by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), revealed a huge drop.
Since the beginning of 2012, more than half of the then 10,200 solar energy jobs in Germany have been cut.
For the first time in nearly half a decade, the number of Germans working in the solar business stood at under 5,000 in 2014.
And that's not all:
The German Solar Industry Association is telling us that 55% less solar power capacity was installed in 2013 than the year before ....
Sunday, 26 January 2014
London School of Economics study: Wind turbines are slashing the value of homes built nearby
A new study by the London School of Economics confirms what most people already have known for long; not only do these ineffective, ugly, bird and bat killing wind monsters destroy beautiful landscapes, they also slash the value of houses from which they are visible:
Wind turbines are slashing the value of homes built nearby, according to a new study into the impact of the large structures on property prices.
Wind turbines are slashing the value of homes built nearby, according to a new study into the impact of the large structures on property prices.
The study, by the London School of Economics (LSE), reviewed more than a million homes within close proximity of large wind farms over a 12-year period, finding that their property values fell by 11 per cent.
The report’s author, Professor Steve Gibbons, Director of LSE’s Spatial Economics Research Centre, told the the Daily Mail: "Property prices are going up in places where they’re not visible and down in the places where they are.”
He stated that his research is the first powerful evidence that wind farms are detrimental to house prices.
With the average UK house price being £250,000, the loss of value if within 12 miles of a wind farm would be £27,000.
Read the entire article here
With the average UK house price being £250,000, the loss of value if within 12 miles of a wind farm would be £27,000.
Read the entire article here
New EU survey: Only 4% of Europeans think that climate change is a major issue facing the European Union
The European Union, the self proclaimed leader in international negotiations on climate change, has spent - and continues to spend - hundreds of millions of euros on various climate change/global warming projects. The EU is also lavishly financing all the major green campaign groups effectively in order to lobby itself.
But despite of all those millions - and the help offered by most MSM media - Europeans do not seem to share the notion that climate change/global warming is one of the more urgent issues facing the European Union.
The latest Eurobarometer survey must be depressing reading for EU climate czar Connie Hedegaard and all the other warmists in Brussels:
When citizens in all 28 EU countries were asked about the most important issues facing the EU, only 4% said it was climate change.
In Italy, Portugal and Greece a whopping 1% of the people think that climate change is a major issue. In Spain, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland and Cyprus the number is slightly higher, 2%. Neither do the British and the French seem to consider climate change a huge problem - only 4% think it is one of the major issues.
Even the "green" Danes seem to find other issues more pressing - only 12% consider climate change a major issue.
The Swedes are here in a league of their own: 24% believe that climate change is one of the two most important issues the EU is facing.
But despite of all those millions - and the help offered by most MSM media - Europeans do not seem to share the notion that climate change/global warming is one of the more urgent issues facing the European Union.
The latest Eurobarometer survey must be depressing reading for EU climate czar Connie Hedegaard and all the other warmists in Brussels:
When citizens in all 28 EU countries were asked about the most important issues facing the EU, only 4% said it was climate change.
In Italy, Portugal and Greece a whopping 1% of the people think that climate change is a major issue. In Spain, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland and Cyprus the number is slightly higher, 2%. Neither do the British and the French seem to consider climate change a huge problem - only 4% think it is one of the major issues.
Even the "green" Danes seem to find other issues more pressing - only 12% consider climate change a major issue.
The Swedes are here in a league of their own: 24% believe that climate change is one of the two most important issues the EU is facing.