Why Green Energy Policies Hurt the Poor

Dec 03, 2022

I would like to start by telling a story in 4 parts.

In October of 2021, the UK started to notice a problem with its energy supplies. The UK in recent years invested heavily in off shore wind turbines and as per agreements with other countries, shut off its coal plants.

However, 2021 seemed to have been a bad year for wind in the UK and the rest of Europe. As a result, it forced countries to buy more of the only available energy source which is mostly low emissions, natural gas.

Normally, countries could rely on neighbouring countries to sell them excess energy when they need it. However, this time, every country in Europe needed the same energy source at the same time, causing energy prices to spike.

Right away, 7 energy companies declared bankruptcy. My energy supplier as well. I was kicked off my very nice payment rate and moved to a new supplier which gave me a rate that was x2.5 what my previous rate was. Over time, this got worse for more and more people in the UK and people started getting notices of having to pay extremely high energy bills. The elderly and the poor started to make decisions about whether to eat or whether to pay for heating.

Business also felt the pain, with some small shops discovering that their energy bills were now bigger than their rent. Over in Germany, similar issues happened a few months later and after war broke out in Ukraine.

Germany was also following the same green energy policy as the UK did, but in addition, Germany was closing down its nuclear power plants and largely replacing them with renewables.

Energy prices in Germany were so high that industries began scaling back its operations. Volkswagen, the second largest car manufacturer in the world, reported that the energy prices were so high, that they will be closing operations in Germany and not expanding operations in Europe. Losing jobs and de-industrialising hurts the poor.

Meanwhile in Sri Lanka, the price of fossil fuels got so high that it had move to organic fertiliser. Synthetic fertiliser, you see, is made from fossil fuels. The following year, food yield was halved and in addition to the increasing oil prices for oil imports, the country collapsed economically and politically. Hungry protestors chased away politicians and ransacked their homes.

Of course, even though energy prices were rising in Europe, the Europeans can afford to pay for it. Developing countries would not be able to compete in such a price war for global energy.

About 6 billion people in the planet that earn less than $10 a day and they need energy desperately. Energy to power machines for production, for infrastructure and for agriculture.

About 3 billion people do not have access to reliable energy or access to as much electricity as the regular refrigerator. Out of those 800 million do not have any access to electricity at all.

Any global reduction in energy production hurts the very poorest on the planet.

Green energy policies, do just that.

More evidence below.