Monday Message Board
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Energy machismo
"November 14, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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"WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday that he was creating a National Energy Council to coordinate policies to boost U.S. energy production that will be led by his pick for interior secretary, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. The National Energy Council will represent federal departments and agencies involved in permitting and regulating all forms of energy, the statement said.
"This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation," Trump said in a statement."
How is this supposed to work? Denmark got 81% of its electricity in 2022 from renewables, predominantly wind. For Spain, the share of zero-carbon electricity in generation in October 2034 was the same, 81%, including 20% from legacy nuclear plants. These countries are ahead of the EU average for electricity, and the transport and buildings sectors are still heavily reliant on gas and oil. However Europe is moving steadily ahead towards a fossil-free energy supply. It has not escaped policymakers that in addition to slashing emissions, the policy will also emancipate Europe from dependence on unreliable partners like Russia, the USA, and petrostates. Trump's policy leads not to dominance but irrelevance.
Correction. Kevin Drum reports Russian inflation is around 7%. There are >20% spikes in salient food items including eggs and butter. No general crisis, but as we have seen in the USA, these can be enough to cause widespread irritation.