Life comes at you fast when you don’t think things through before you jump. That seems to be the cold, dark, and hungry lesson the European Union is facing – but not necessarily learning – at the moment. They have run smack up against the consequences of their headlong charge into the Age of Green Energy and sworn fealty to the Church of Renewables.

Things are tough right at the start of what is shaping up to be a brutal winter, no less. Our son Ebola, the Air Force’s finest meteorologist, called from his little German village this morning, holding the phone outside so I could see the snow falling. He said it was all cold Russian air pouring in out of the east, as opposed to the normal polar jet. That’s unusual in itself, early to boot, and, not to mention, just a smidge ironic.

Joe Bastardi’s charts and forecasts for December mirror Ebola’s prognostications. It’s going to be a frigid winter.

By mid-month we should get one of those pics of the UK encased in snow and ice. The cold December in Europe and the US has been a mainstay of my company's ideas since late summer. US/Europe Dec looks like a blend of dec 09 and dec 10 pic.twitter.com/YOS3nBrKPm

— Joe Bastardi (@BigJoeBastardi) December 1, 2022

The French are preparing for the cold – by planning to cut the power. Now there’s a “plan.”

Cold weather could lead to power cuts in France on Monday as delays to the restart of nuclear power following repair work leave supply lagging demand, analysts said.

Nuclear power supply had been expected to reach around 40 gigawatts (GW) this week, but operator EDF’s delay in restarting reactors meant it rose to only around 35 GW, leaving France more reliant on imports and gas-fired production.

Refinitiv analyst Nathalie Gerl said the situation as a cold spell grips northwestern Europe this weekend and next week would be “much more critical” but for efforts to curb demand, especially by big industrial consumers.

There was still a risk of a shortfall just on Monday, she said.

It makes you wonder if any of these people will remember what “being warm in the winter” used to feel like.

As Jazz posted yesterday, Switzerland is looking into legislation to ban their citizens from driving their EVs in winter, except in urgent exceptions, because? There probably won’t be enough juice in the system to recharge them when they get home.

It sure is taking some “exceptional” sacrifices just to keep some lights/heat on, isn’t it? Even then the EU “power” grid meisters can’t guarantee the flow of energy throughout the system. Is that any way to run a union?

The scarcity of resources – both for power generation and the power itself – has been a huge factor in skyrocketing energy prices. Sadly, there will be plenty of people across Europe this winter who wouldn’t know if there was a blackout because they couldn’t afford to keep the lights burning or consistently heat their homes in any event.

Those costs are also circling back to bite the green energy sector. This week the CEO of Volkswagon, Thomas Schäfer, wrote a LinkedIn post where he stated building EV batteries in the EU could become a thing of the past if they don’t rein in the costs, and fast.

Volkswagen’s CEO warned this week that manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles in the European Union will be “practically unviable” if leaders fail to rein in ballooning energy costs.

“Unless we manage to reduce energy prices in Germany and Europe quickly and reliably,” Thomas Schäfer wrote in a Monday LinkedIn post, “investments in energy-intensive production or new battery cell factories in Germany and the EU will be practically unviable.”

What’s interesting are the replies to Schäfer’s LinkedIn post from European professionals. Almost to a one, they all push back against the ill-considered rush to jettison time-proven, reliable fossil fuel energy sources, and industries associated with them. One Spanish manager as much as says, “and thank YOU for NOTHING, Germany, since you all foisted this on the rest of US.” I thought that was some pretty plain speaking.

And, sadly, Mr. Ericson’s comment is incorrect. France is woefully unprepared. All of Europe is teetering on an energy crisis edge.

Fox Business has a good short video interview up with Steve Milloy from the Energy and Environment Legal Institute. his point breaks down to our own ill-advised scramble to decimate our fossil fuel based energy sector in favor of “green/renewable” doesn’t benefit anyone but China. It sure doesn’t make life better for Americans.

That LinkedIn comment quote from Sr. Monzon should be cast in bronze:

Activists and politicians should not be defining technologies.

The response when they attempt to dictate such, from this point forward, should be vociferous and unrelenting pushback.

No. We refuse to go backward in our standard of living for socialist pipedreams and get-rich schemes.

We will not cede control to Scientists™ and Experts™ ever again.

Choose freedom.