After a combination of natural disasters forced the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Japan, taxpayer-funded activists in Germany seized on the hysteria to demand that their country switch to solar and wind energy. The technology was ready, they insisted, all that was needed was "political will" and the government needed to "show leadership" - and so the people believed.
Independent science media like us reported on reality. Europe's climate agreement had declared CO2 emissions would be charged to the exporting nation so they burned imported wood, and German companies made a fortune selling natural gas-derived energy on the spot market. Which they bought from Russia, via Ukraine pipes.
The first time Russia attacked Ukraine, Germany even scrambled to bypass Ukraine, by violating their own environmental laws and fast-tracking a pipeline that came directly from Russia. Russia knew that was the time to strike. Without the 55% of their energy from Russia, Germans would be paralyzed. So they invaded Ukraine again.
What $4 trillion in alternative energy subsidies gets you. Very little. For that money, all of Europe and the US could have emissions-free nuclear. Instead, the world let the energy equivalent of thoughts and prayers by activists do to energy what belief in magic did to Sri Lanka with 'organic' food.
This was impossible for Europe to completely ignore, but they were stuck looking for new sources. They knew solar and wind were making little difference. Suddenly their citizens did too. Two years in, one of Germany's renewable power leaders has admitted that without nuclear and coal they've become so reliant on imported natural gas they may never recover. Manufacturing is in decline and will continue to shut down.
Smart German companies have instead invested in the US, tripling money sent here in 2023. You know when Bidenomics in America look good by comparison, Europe is really bad.
They shouldn't invest in California, though. The state has encouraged environmentalists to block maintenance of the state's only remaining nuclear plant, even as poor people are saddled with the nation's highest energy costs due to enacting the same reactionary policies as Germany. Like Deutschland, California is stuck importing energy with no relief in sight.
