MUENCHHAUSEN
AN ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER ABOUT
ENVIRONMENT,
RENEWABLE RESOURCE TECHNOLOGY,
AND RELATED TOPICS
By BOOTSTRAP PRESS, INC.
BETHESDA, MD
JJGREENBARON(at)VERIZON.NET
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NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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WELCOME!
The Green Baron (TGB) welcomes
one and all who take the time to read Muenchhausen. He aims to “tell it
like it is” as much as possible, and avoid advocacy and ideological positions.
There are enough of those to go around in other publications.
The Green Baron also welcomes comments from anyone who may
read Muenchhausen. Please send comments to the e-mail address above.
ENERGY, EUROPE, RUSSIA
Energy—really fuel—in the form of oil and natural gas is one
of the principal sources of income (foreign exchange) for the Russian
Federation. It is brought into other European countries via a pipeline system.
Many European nations that receive these fuels are almost totally dependent on
supplies from Russia, especially during the winter months in the Northern
Hemisphere. The pipeline system is quite complex.
Russian fuel pipeline
complex (1)
TGB posed this question to His
Excellency Peter Kmec, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States.
The Slovak Republic, after all, is one of the nations dependent on Russia for
much of its fuel needs. Among other topics, he discussed European energy needs
and security during a lecture Nov. 3 at the Wilsonian Club (Washington, DC) (2).
Kmec’s suggested that adverse effects on the Russian economy and polity would not
be felt in Russia in the immediate future. He said, however, that such effects
would be felt over the “intermediate term,” which TGB infers could be two or
more years into the future.
Kmec: Adverse effects on Russia not immediate. Photo: TGB
By contrast Lawrence (Larry) Kudlow, a
noted economics and political commentator and talk-show host, believes that
energy competition, together with some economic sanctions on the Russian
Federation, already are injuring the Russian economy and even the leadership or
Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even predicted that these factors could
bring about Putin’s fall (3). TGB takes Kudlow’s comments as currently
being “a bridge too far” and overly sanguine. Nevertheless, the new
technologies for extracting oil and natural gas in countries and areas where
these were heretofore nonexistent have the potential to affect the foreign exchange
incomes of several fuel-exporting nations and their sovereign wealth funds with
increasing adversity.
“AIM AT LOW-CARBON SOCIETY”
“We must aim at a
low-carbon society.” This is a prescription by Hans Bruynincx, executive
director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) when he addressed a meeting
on an environmental agenda for Europe 2050 at the Wilson Center in Washington,
DC, Oct. 30. It would appear that planning as far ahead as 2050 is most
ambitious, but Bruynincx explained that Europe must look that far ahead (4).
The beginnings of the formation of this policy, he added, began after the world
economic crisis of 2008. Environmental planning and management, he said, needs
a “fundamental change, because natural resources will not support the ‘good
life’ for more than 7 billion people on this planet.
As a major first
step, Bruynincx called for a reduction of current greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2030. “On a finite
planet,” he added, “we can’t have ‘a little bit’ of sustainability. Living
within ecological limits is a boundary condition.” And among the principal
steps for reducing GHG is a sharp curtailment in the use of the internal
combustion engine. Bruynincx suggests that efficiency of internal combustion
engines, however much it may be increased, has its limits. Moreover, given that
owning a car is a big step in a person’s life, even if that car and others like
it may be electric, there still would be traffic jams. In any event, the goal
for the European Union (EU) is “decarbonization,” and no amount of internal
combustion engine efficiency can contribute materially to achieving this goal. Bruynincx
foresees a low-carbon economy by 2050—“we will live well, and within our planet’s
ecological limits”—with achievement of GHG emission reduction by about 80%.
Bruynincx: Low-carbon economy by 2050. Photo: EEA
BEIJING CLEANUP. . .
This was done for the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) meeting, recently held in Beijing, China, Nov. 7 and the
weekend following. About 50% of the city’s cars were banned from the streets.
Numerous buildings, including schools and government buildings, were closed for
the occasion. Even supplies of fuel for home and building heating were cut
down; bear in mind that in November, nights in Beijing can be cold, with
temperatures near or even below freezing. These and other restrictions will be
in force until foreign dignitaries and potentates attending APEC leave Nov. 14
(5).
Why all these restrictive actions (not to mention
forcible removal of many persons normally located near the summit site)? The
air in Beijing often is so polluted that visibility is limited and people there
sometimes have to wear masks. This would not do for a meeting as august as
APEC, with many heads of state and cabinet ministers in attendance. Hence, a
need for blue skies. Ergo, sources of pollution had to be curtailed or even
shut off for the duration of the APEC summit. After Nov. 14, TGB believes,
things will be back to business as usual (cough, cough!).
Beijing: Smog levels sometimes “off charts” (6)
REFERENCES
1. http://www.eegas.com/fsu.htm
2. Kmec,
P. Presentation by H.E. Peter Kmec, Wilsonian Club, Washington, DC, Nov. 3,
2014.
3. Kudlow, L. Comments on “Morning on the Mall”, Radio
Station WMAL, Washington, DC, Nov. 4, 2014.
4. Bruynincx, H. Presentation on EEA
future plans as far ahead as 2050, Wilson Center, Washington, DC, Oct. 30,
2014.
5. Wan, W. “China in overdrive putting
its best face for APEC summit”. Washington Post, Nov. 5, 2014, p. A6.
6. Berger,
M. “What would your city look like with Beijing's air? A
smog simulator”. http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/we-used-be-china/what-would-your-city-look-beijings-air-smog-simulator.
Feb. 8, 2013, 15:30.
