Germany’s Deutsche Bank has issued a note on the current energy supply situation that says that if Russia makes deeper cuts in the supply of natural gas to western Europe as a result of sanctions over the war in Ukraine, German households might have to turn to an alternative fuel to heat their homes, wood.
“There are lots of elements of uncertainty,” the note said. According to long-range weather forecasts, Europe is expecting a harder winter than it normally experiences. Russia has already cut shipments to countries like Bulgaria and Poland for their refusal to use rubles for payment. Also, Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy company has sent mixed messages over whether or not the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which has been shut down for maintenance, will reopen.
Deutsche Bank via https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1547180581141766144
The Deutsche Bank note said if natural gas supplies are not sufficient, coal and lignite could replace natural gas in the industrial and power generating sectors but that for domestic heating wood could substitute. The idea of using wood for domestic heating is about as old as mankind but modern concerns about energy supply have made it relevant again. When the state of Texas had blackouts due to severe winter weather and renewable backup energy sources failing, many homeowners used fireplaces and wood stoves to keep warm.
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. If the Wehrmacht, the German army, didn’t have enough fuel, you can be sure that regular Germans had to find alternatives for their motor vehicles. As a strategic commodity, gasoline was severely rationed during the war, in the United States as well as Germany.
In the 1920s, French chemist Georges Imbert invented a coal gasifier, later licensing the process to German firms.
Imbert Gasifier
Wood gas, sometimes called producer gas, is the result of thermal gasification of carbon-containing materials such as coal or biomass. It’s produced by pyrolysis and two high temperature (~1,300°F) reactions that produce, among other gases, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and methane, which are combustible. Fortuitously, conventional carburetted gasoline-fired internal combustion engines will run on wood gas just fine without extensive modifications. The biggest problem, literally, is finding space for the gasifier, about the size of a 50-gallon hot water tank. Some gasifiers were mounted to the car or truck, while in some cases the wood gas generator was trailered.
There were even thousands of “wood gas stations” in Europe, where motorists could stock up on wood.
Now, do I really expect millions of BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, and Volkswagens in Germany to start carrying around wood gasifiers? Probably not, petroleum supplies seem stable, but it’s hard to hear about Germans switching from “gas-to-wood” without thinking of the time when Germans used “wood-to-gas”.
[Image via YouTube]
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Let s say there are 10,000 parts /particles in the worlds air. Of all the air. 360 parts are CO2. 348 are naturally occurring. 12 of the CO2 are man made.
Man made Global warming is a skam!
BEV cars will be a disaster.
People will freeze.
People will starve.
Only the stupid americans and europeans will participate in this BS.
China >> Winning !
I have read that the Chinese plan is long term conversion to electric cars powered by coal burning power plants and conserve petroleum fuels for their military.
A wise guest on CNBC said “The Chinese have central planning by engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, and the US has central planning by lawyers. By definition we lose.”
Only incompetent career politicians like Biden could say that “democracy always beats autocracy”.. I said long time ago, democracies have no chance against Government capitalism.
If you look at history of American economics since 1920s it was a failure. Only back then a better system has not been invented. There were totalitarian regimes all over the place.
1930s – US gov. Collected all gold from people. US people went to work to the USSR
1940s-50s war and lend lease, then Marshal plan, dollar becomes world currency. That was a face saving period for US economy but at the cost of 50 million dead Asians and Europeans
1960s – we removed gold standard not from good life. US somewhat saved by thousands of German engineers who pushed technological envelope here.
1970s – huge crises, near depression and US nearly totally lost a cold war as USSR at that time seem way more attractive
1980s – Reaganomics. Low taxes, start borrowing money. when GH Bush was leaving we had issues to say the least
1990s – Clinton kills regulations, interest rates, creates economy but with it several bubbles which blew into the face of the next administration.
2000s – Bush – “basis of our economy is strong”. Next week – collapse. + wars. US is now 8 trillion in debt.
2010s – Obama with slow recovery and I don’t even know where those $$ went but he added 12 trillions while US economy stagnated. Trump did better but nobody in DC wants better.
2020s – full collapse of the economy. Industrial sector under 20%, Agriculture under 5%. Rest is bunch of stock market, huge money emissions. Nobody wants DOLLAR. Trying to continue political elite survival via COVID, Green Deal, Wars and other hoaxes.
Conclusion: American “capitalism” never worked in the 20th -21st centuries. The elites mostly spent their time finding new pyramids and schemes/scams to direct money into right(for them) places. US never built the economy. Only created schemes to make $$.
The misinformation and propaganda are particularly rampant in here today.
LOL…I see someone is on leave from the front. We were all worried about you Slavuta…what with your people getting slaughtered in Ukraine. As we hadn’t heard from you I figured you’d gone down on one of those ships or gotten stuck in a burning tank. Now run along…Don’t you have some missiles to shoot at a mall or something.
Props for showing your face here though after all your blustering about the Red Army turned out to be, well…wrong lol.
I can direct you at some Telegram channels where you can see the reality of the battlefield. Or keep watching the US media.
According to US media, Russia runs short on ammo. It will last only 2 weeks, Putin is terminally ill and all Russian soldiers ran away.
here
https://www.dailymail.co.uk
Russian soldiers are ‘plotting fake marriages’ to escape Ukraine war…
Mutinous Russian troops are overheard complaining …
Moment a fleeing Russian soldier leads Ukrainian …
Putin’s forces may only be able to keep up the …
Russian soldier ‘drives a TANK over his commanding officer ..
Russian soldier runs for life after tank hit by Ukrainian …
Demoralised and ‘CRYING’ Russians ‘surrendering without a fight’ …
This is what is being fed to dummies in UK. And to you.
In reality, Russia caused collapse of 4 European governments. And this is just the beginning. They all will come to kiss the ring of Putin. With no electricity, no hot water, no heat, shower restrictions, rolling blackouts, roasted manufacturing, they are surely set for unrest. Check Netherlands, Germany and Poland. And Russia has not yet invoked ANY sanctions in return. Besides may be, cutting Boeing from titanium and tooling and microchip manufacturing supplies. You better get computer soon or…
And keep in mind. This is America at fault that this war happened.
There is nothing wrong with capitalism when left (mostly) to its own devices. Labor and capital are directed to where returns are highest based on market demand. It is an extremely efficient method of resource allocation.
What you describe is crony capitalism. China has LOADS of it. Don’t believe for one minute that China is run by benevolent dictators. The guys running that place are as corrupt as the day is long.
Centrally planned economies never work. Planning boards/commissions/commissars are never as efficient or reliable as free markets. Often these planners are corrupt and funnel resources based on kick-backs and bribes. China’s under-occupied real estate developments are just one example of central planning failures:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in_China
The US, largely, is not a centrally planned economy. Most of our GDP is generated and spent by the free market. Capitalists decide where to put labor and capital where returns are expected to be highest based on market demand.
Given enough time, China’s failures in central planning will become obvious to debt holders.
@Ronnie–During WW II when the German’s were cut off from the North African oil supplies the Germans took coal.
“In 1944 General George S. Patton’s Third Army was racing across southern France. In his haste to be the first U.S. commander to cross into Germany, however, Patton overextended his supply lines. His armored columns ground to a dead stop. Faced the choice of waiting until he could be resupplied or draining the fuel of captured German vehicles, Patton chose the latter. His tanks and armored personnel carriers continued to steamroll toward Germany, powered by the German’s own ersatz gasoline – synthetic fuel manufactured from coal.
When Allied bombing of the German synfuels plants began taking its toll in late 1944 and early 1945, the entire Nazi war machine began grinding to a halt. More than 92 percent of Germany’s aviation gasoline and half its total petroleum during World War II had come from synthetic fuel plants. At its peak in early 1944, the German synfuels effort produced more than 124,000 barrels per day from 25 plants. In February 1945, one month after Allied forces turned back the Hitler’s troops at the Battle of the Bulge, German production of synthetic aviation gasoline amounted to just a thousand tons – one half of one percent of the level of the first four months of 1944. None was to be produced afterwards. Lack of petrol meant the end of the war and the end of the Third Reich.”
https://www.energy.gov/fecm/early-days-coal-research
Deutsche Bank is correct.
Question: Is wood still Renewable (i.e., trees grow) and therefore ok, or is it Verboten?
Bag all that gasifier crap and move to External Combustion.
Rough math: Something like 17 pounds of wood (and all the cardboard I get from Amazon and rockauto) yield the same BTU’s as a 6-pound gallon of gasoline. Trips to the gym will still work. Road trips may need some logistical adjustments (but cost-wise looks very promising).
Speaking of Europe and vehicles:
https://youtu.be/EMEpxX7rS5I
Here’s a company that sells a sell contained biomass fueled generator they call Power Pallet ranging between 25 and 130 kW. It makes sense for forested locations that are far off the grid.
https://www.allpowerlabs.com/
It is more toxic than traditional fuel. There is a ship that was sunk in WWII (The Stuttgart I believe) that has been noted and studied due to the enviromental impact being far greater than other wrecks who’s tanks have began to corrode and spill their fuel. It was found that the synthetic fuel was the cause. Not that any such wreck is good, but this fuel is worse.
“Russia has already cut shipments to countries like Bulgaria and Poland for their refusal to use rubles for payment. Also, Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy company has sent mixed messages over whether or not the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which has been shut down for maintenance, will reopen.”
Russia will no longer ship gas for nothing.
Poland still uses Russian gas only routes it from other side. Canada arrested a turbine for Nord Stream pipeline and this is why gas stopped, since turbine needs replacement (or Russia can make it look that way). Ukraine also decided to cut one of the pipelines to Europe and they now have 25% less capacity. Germany has a wonderful option – open a valve in the Nord Stream 2, get as much gas as they want.
Fun facts
Hungary, which refused to participate in sanctions, now ordered full ban on any fuel including wood, leaving the country.
Poland now sells licenses to those who wants to collect branches, dry wood from the forest floor. Sort of like fishing licenses.
Time for Honda to revive the GX model. In America we still have plenty of gas. I remember those LADA conversions. you Stick the tank into the trunk and change something in carburetor – voila. Gas car.
Everything Putin says comes true. From what I remember
– One time around 2017 or something, someone asked the energy question during conferences with foreign business. something like, what if gas no longer needed. The answer was – “will be needed. I don’t know why you close nuclear energy. For firewood you also need to go to Siberia https://youtu.be/7Y3-jEYH9Lo
– He warned Russian oligarchs not to offshore in Cyprus – bam! Cyprus banks went bust
– he told a couple years back to the Russian oligarchs – keep money in Russia. It will be taken away from you. And you will never be able to recover it through courts or otherwise. BAM! happened
– He told in 2007 Ukraine will be a red line – everybody laughed. BAM!
– He told Russia will have a working hypersonic weapon soon. Everybody said Putin shows cartoons. they laughed. A month later BAM – Russia already deploying it to the airforce units.
Trump also perfectly warned us about Biden.
In the other car news, Russia is reviving Moskvitch brand
“Russia is reviving Moskvitch brand”
It is long overdue. I have fond childhood memories about Moskvich-407.
KAMAZ will build Moskvitch
Especially that part about taking Kiev in a couple of weeks and being greeted as liberators in Ukraine. No, wait….that didn’t come true lol.
And who cares about Russian Weapons. The 70’s junk seems to be having its way with your new stuff lol. Nobody is scared of their BS. Putin can’t establish air superiority over a country that is begging the rest of the world for airplanes. Putin has been exposed as a fraud and the Red Army as a paper tiger. Chumps
phew. One of you is lying. Either you or the NATO. You say Russia is a paper tiger. NATO says it is the biggest threat. So which one?
Russia uses 15% of its active force in Ukraine and already destroyed Ukrainian army 3 times over. And Ukraine had 2nd strongest conventional military in Europe. West brings more weapons, so Russia comes in contact and destroys it. And waits when Ukraine will surrender from lack of oxygen. Did Ukraine won one battle? No. Took back one city by force? No.
Will Russians be greeted – yes. Tell me, why did Zelenskiy fired bosses of secret service and prosecutor’s office? He said, because 260 people in those organizations work for Russia. 3 regions where russia is in control today, already nearly fully integrated into Russian system and nobody there fights back. And in other regions will be the same thing. People are just afraid to say because Ukrainian Gestapo works overtime arresting anyone on smallest suspicion. I tell you even more. When Putin first said that he will not change anything and Russians kept the Ukrainian symbols and flags, not many people “came out”. But as soon as Russia changed the policy and said that we’re here forever, and Ukrainian symbols were removed, locals joined the cause.
And when you talk about Russia this or that, you’re dropping that Russia fights US via proxy. Russia has tactical air superiority – on every video address from Ukrainian soldiers to Zelenskiy (a daily event) they complain that Russian planes bomb them. But they do not have strategical air superiority because Ukraine keeps its radars shut and get data from AWACS that flies around day and night. Ukraine gets live data from US and UK satellites and in many cases able to avoid contact. Hence Russian new strategy – fix and destroy. Russia is not chasing Ukrainian military. They bomb them until Ukraine must leave positions. Here how it looks in the real life in the eyes of Ukrainian https://t.me/topwar_official/51898
I choose not to be Russian nor do I choose Putin or Trump.
Why not install solar panels on cars instead of gasifiers? Where they are going to get wood? Deforestation in Europe is real.
My message to the Germans: “Welcome to the jungle!”
E-100 fueled vehicles and option?
Germany has the world’s third largest reserves of Braunkohle (lignite).
Time to fire up the world’s largest vehicles and get to work: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_288 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_293
The elites running the EU and the U.S. since 2020 are completely clueless:
Yeah, let’s admit Ukraine into NATO–that’s a great idea.
Let’s accuse the Russians of staging a coup in the 2016 election, putting Trump in office.
Let’s base our global energy policy on the rantings of a 17 year old Swedish high school dropout.
Trump, for all of his warts, would never have gotten us into this proxy war mess with Russia. In the end, Biden will negotiate a deal giving Russia control of certain parts of Ukraine and a pledge not to admit Ukraine into NATO–the same deal Trump would have negotiated before a shot was fired, averting this energy crisis and crippling inflation we experiencing.
“ Let’s base our global energy policy on the rantings of a 17 year old Swedish high school dropout.”
And a failed, loudmouth, incredibly stupid bartender.
“ Biden will negotiate a deal giving Russia control of certain parts of Ukraine and a pledge not to admit Ukraine into NATO–the same deal Trump would have negotiated before a shot was fired, averting this energy crisis and crippling inflation we experiencing.”
End of sentence, repeat the line.
Oh I’m so embarrassed. I misquoted the president of the United States. The commander in chief!
Here is what the absolute buffoon actually said:
“End of quote. Repeat the line”
As I recall, Standard Oil sold the patents for coal gasification to Germany before WWII. Without those patents Germany could not have waged war. A fictional account on this subject is the movie “The Formula” with Marlin Brando. It’s worth a watch.
What did the Germans use to light their home before candles?
Electricity.
Love how Slavuta just rolls back in here like every assanine comparison he ever made between the US and Russia hasn’t been proven to be a bunch of BS since he last showed his face around here 8 months or so ago.
Enjoy your leave. It will be a long cold winter for you when you get back to the front. Unless of course you’ve deserted…I hear your countrymen are fond of that. LOL…exposed as the undisciplined paper tiger of a fighting force you are. You may yet win that war, but no first world nation is scared of you chumps.
I guess he figured the Ruskos are making some headway in Ukraine and he could lead the charge in Putin’s invasion of the USA by starting with some propaganda. Such a marvelous system that Premier Putin has that we should all be under his supreme leadership. Do we know where Slavuta is from he might be on his computer in Mother Russia?
I figured he was on a troll farm somewhere given how when the invasion turned ugly he disapeared. He’s a chump.
He wasn’t hurt too bad or we would not have heard from him. Maybe one of those nice Ukrainians who captured him lent him a phone so he could call his mother.
Russia will free Ukraine from Nazis lead by US regime(s). Enjoy your $6/gal gas, and $20 bread loafs. Wasn’t you the guy who said I will need a wheelbarrow To carry rubles? Now it seem ruble went from $75 to $55 and Biden sniffs pubic hair of Saudis instead of his own daughter while showering together. Don’t forget your monkey pox vaccine to. I am sure, your retirement will be “great”.
Comrade Slavuta spreading the word on how great a former KGB officer (Soviet Communist) is and how we should embrace his form of dictatorship. At least in the US the President is limited to no more than 2 terms in office, can be voted out of office, and to my knowledge our Presidents haven’t tried to poison their opponents. I would rather have an imperfect form of Government where you have the right to speak up and not worry about retaliation than have a Stalin or a Putin who has any opposition killed and is in for life. The Ukrainian invasion is less about Russia and more about the power and ambitions of a dictator. You are definitely a Russian troll if you believe the US would support a Nazis regime but then one of Putin’s plans is to infiltrate the US and weaken it. Don’t want a former Communist and now dictator ruling the World. Comrade Slavuta most Americans do not embrace Putin nor do we embrace Communism or Dictatorships. Comrade we have not missed you go back to Mother Russia.
Jeff
you’re brainwashed by propaganda that tell you Putin is bad every time. This is what west propaganda tell you every day and you’re washed in it.
Let American top military official say about WHY you think like this about Putin, how America is screwing everything up and about Putin
https://youtu.be/OB4CLNXgxlk?t=941
And this is about you, the “Putin whisperer” https://youtu.be/OB4CLNXgxlk?t=1309
Do you know why some people from Ukraine are allowed to come to US? Jewish and Baptists from Ukraine… Because Nazis persecute them. This is written in US laws. Ukrainian Nazis not to be allowed US weapon supplies – also US law, which US happily breaks.
US is two-faced. On one side they have these laws that directed to help people that being persecuted. With another hand for many years US has been straitening these Nazis until they delivered a coup in 2014.
“The Ukrainian invasion is less about Russia and more about the power and ambitions of a dictator. ”
BS. Russia told NATO (US really) in 2021, you must leave Ukraine. There were separate attempts to put them at the table to discuss European security. 3 attempts, written US answer. After which Russia said, since you don’t want to cooperate, we will do it ourselves. There ya go. Red lines were drawn in 2007-2008. US crossed them. Ukraine decided to become a battlefield. So there they have what they wished for
WATCH!!!! https://youtu.be/L7u0y-iU82w?t=74
Look at this sleaze’s hands
So you are saying the people of Ukraine should not be allowed to have their own government that they must bow down to the wishes of Putin? We declared war on Great Britain and fought for our own independence. It is Ukraine’s business whether they want to be part of NATO and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine only proves why Ukraine wants to join NATO. Putin is less interested in peace and more interested in putting the old Soviet Union together. NATO itself was formed after World War II to protect Europe from another dictator like Hitler and Mussolini. NATO is not interested in attacking Russia more like protecting themselves from Putin. Putin might eventually take over Ukraine and make it one of his satellites but he will not stop there he wants Poland then the rest of Europe. If this is what you want, Slavuta, then you need to go back to Russia. America does not need or want you. Most Americans don’t want to be ruled with the iron hand of a dictator that murders those who disagree with him.