MUENCHHAUSEN, Nov. 10, 2014

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.