This sounds ominous.
Deutsche Bank says Germans should use less gas any which way they can. Their new report suggests they use more hard coal and lignite for power stations, wood for home heating, and use oil in industry. That’s sparked a debate on the merits of using wood. (Nobody say the word “nuclear”.)
Germany drawing up plans to heat homes with WOOD this winter as gas crisis erupts
The Express
WOOD could be used to heat German homes this winter as the country grapples with a gas crisis.
Opinion is divided over the merits of using wood as a fuel with some saying doing so increases CO2 emissions and would unleash a logging boom, trashing biodiversity. Others argue wood is a renewable source of energy and expanding its use could prompt landowners to plant more trees, resulting in more carbon storage.
The Deutsche Bank analysis adds both savings and substitution have already led to a drop in German gas consumption by more than 14 percent year on year in the first five months of this year, largely driven by a mild winter.
Desperate: The European Commission suggests countries pay companies to use less gas, subsidize other fuels, and basically plan what they will have to shut down, and in what order, come the next emergency.
A European Commission plan due to be published on July 20 will suggest countries launch financial incentives for companies to cut gas use; use state aid to encourage industries and power plants to switch to other fuels and roll out campaigns to nudge consumers to use less heating and air conditioning.
Measures targeting industry could include auctions or tenders where large consumers would receive compensation for using less gas, according to a draft of the plan. It adds Governments should also decide the order in which they would force industries to close in a supply emergency.
Meanwhile NoTricksZone reports that the German people were far ahead of them and already bought out most of the wood.
Germany’s Running Out Of Energy: Wind Turbine Construction Stalls, Firewood Becoming Scarce!
As natural gas and oil for heating skyrockets, many Germans are now turning to firewood as a way to keep warm this coming winter. But now firewood is getting rare too, and prices are skyrocketing. The German online Merkur reports of “exploding demand”.
According to firewood dealer Konrad Kötterl. “Some people are panicking about not being able to get any more wood.” As a result, they’re stockpiling. Normally, he has three to four orders a day in the summer. “Right now, it’s 20 to 30.”
Personally, I called a local firewood dealer earlier in the week. They told me they have none left and that they could put me down on a waiting list.
Ronnie Schreiber at TheTruthAboutCars points out that Germany even powered cars on wood in WWII
If that comes to pass in Europe, this would not be the first time Germans and other Europeans would switch to wood for energy. During World War II, as many as a half million passenger cars were run on what is called “wood gas”, also called syngas or producer gas. Germany did not have sufficient supplies of petroleum for its military uses, so it developed synthetic fuels. General Patton even had some of the 3rd Army’s vehicles run on synthetic fuel that they drained from captured or abandoned German tanks.
In the 1920s, French chemist Georges Imbert invented a coal gasifier, later licensing the process to German firms.
Apparently wood gas is created with high temperature pyrolysis and conventional internal combustion engines will run on wood gas without many modifications though the 50-Gallon gasifier needs to be attached at the back or on a trailer. The problem may not be the lack of gasifiers, but the lack of forests to cut down.
Somehow the Greens always end up killing trees.