Author | Yuan Silai
Editor | Su Jianxun
On September 25, "Europeans buy Chinese electric blankets" became a hot search on Weibo.
According to the data from the China Home Appliances Association , when the data on exporting most home appliances to Europe fell, electric blankets were far ahead, with exports in July alone reaching 1.29 million pieces, a month-on-month increase of up to 1.5 times. Rainbow Group, which produces electric blankets, once hit the daily limit.
This is just a stage of sales climbing. As the November Black Friday and December Christmas promotion seasons begin, sales of electric blankets will continue to grow. In addition to electric blankets, sales of electric heating also increased by 35%.
Amid the energy crisis, European countries are preparing for the upcoming cold winter. This time, Europe was determined to survive the long and cold night on its own.
htmlOn September 1, German Chancellor Scholz said that even if Russia's natural gas supply is cut off, Germany will survive the winter. The government is speeding up the stockpiling of natural gas, importing more energy from Netherlands and Norway . The liquefied natural gas equipment terminal is also working overtime to build. In addition to building new pipelines, the government has given money without any mercy and used subsidies to calm the public's dissatisfaction with paying for high electricity prices.European families will re-experience the lifestyle of the "pre-heating era" this year. People stockpiled electric blankets and electric heating, and wood that had long been eliminated also appeared in the fireplace.
pressure is approaching little by little. This is a game without gunpowder. Europe's future energy structure may depend on whether Russian natural gas will be reused this winter. If you look back many years later, this year will be a very critical year for EU to change the energy structure.
A variety of power saving and power limiting
The daily life of Europeans is undergoing unprecedented changes.
The most intuitive impact is power outage. If you walk on the "Unter den Linden" in Berlin at night, you will find the bronze statue of Frederick the Great, Humboldt University , German History Museum and Brandenburg Gate are all shrouded in the dark.
Local time on July 27, 2022, Berlin, Germany, the dim Berlin Cathedral (left). To save energy, the Berlin Senate Environmental Department ordered the closure of lighting of buildings and landmarks throughout the city. Germany is expected to face an energy crisis in the coming months as Russian natural gas supply decreases. Pictures from Visual China
From September 1, all city streets, national institutions, libraries, museums, memorial halls, etc. in Berlin can only light the lights between 4 and 10 pm.
There are also lights in public places such as Paris, France. From September 23, the lights of the Paris City Hall and the City Museum will be turned off from 10 pm. The lights of the Eiffel Tower will be turned off at 11:45. Only street lights that ensure pedestrian safety will continue to illuminate. The local area intends to reduce the power by 10% in this way.
The indoor room is not as warm as before. In addition to child care centers, nursing homes, and hospitals, the indoor temperature of Paris public buildings will not exceed 18 degrees - this can save 7-8% of electricity.
The government is also mobilizing ordinary people to save electricity. For example, in the Netherlands, the government urged everyone not to take a bath for more than 5 minutes, and also called on everyone not to use air conditioners and dryers as much as possible.
Natural gas prices doubled, and Germans and Bulgarians began to stock up on firewood. "Brennholz" (firewood) has become the most popular search term for Google recently.
Of course, this alternative also becomes expensive. The 2 cubic meter hardwood only cost 250 euros last year, and the price has doubled this year.
only looks at the way of heating, and the EU seems to be going back to the "pre-industrial era". But ancient methods do not mean useless. Take the UK as an example. Last quarter, 6.5% of the UK's electricity came from burning biofuels, such as wood. Biofuels account for 40% of the UK's new energy, exceeding wind and hydropower.
Of course, the method of burning wood is not likable. The Hungarian government wants to negotiate with Russia to increase natural gas imports and relax restrictions on timber cutting. This move directly led to a 1,000-person march in Budapest , protesting against the harm to the environment.
Winter is coming, and Europe is ready.No one can give a definite answer to whether these various preparations are enough to deal with them. Jason Bordoff, former White House adviser, was very worried. "The current hoarding of the EU is not enough. Even if it is quantitatively rationed, some countries have higher demand than others."
government spends money
The cold winter is approaching, and the EU government subsidies are becoming increasingly radical.
With the joint efforts of private, enterprises and government, Germany's natural gas consumption in July has dropped by 15% year-on-year. However, compared with requiring people to limit electricity and turn on less air conditioners, the government knows that the most important thing is to reduce the burden on ordinary people.
9 September, the chairman of the European Commission said that he would impose huge profit tax on fossil fuel companies, covering oil, natural gas, coal and refining companies. This move will raise 140 billion euros.
In order to link residents and enterprises, Germany has introduced an aid plan of up to 100 billion euros, not only to issue 300 euros subsidies to each taxpayer, but on this basis, the elderly and students can also receive an additional 300 euros and 200 euros.
After all, whether it can land safely depends on the efforts of the EU government to issue money. While issuing subsidies, Germany also lowered the fuel tax for gasoline and diesel this year.
More importantly, Germany has launched a 9 euro monthly pass to promote more public transportation. If you purchase it on a daily basis, the monthly ticket will be as high as 29-69 euros.
monthly tickets sold 52 million soon, and are expected to reduce private transportation by 17%. This move was even praised as "slam dunk" - simple and effective.
On June 4, 2022, local time, in Munich, Germany, people took a train at the train station. The picture comes from Visual China
France is less dependent on natural gas and is relatively restrained. Even so, Paris, France has invested 10 billion euros since 2014 to expand public transportation, and will spend more money on the subway in the next few months. The thermal system of more than 60,000 public welfare housing buildings in Paris has been renovated, and each household can save 400 euros per year.
In fact, the better way is to start the energy used in the past. For example, Germany allows the sealed thermal power plant to reopen. Before December 31, two large nuclear power plants in Germany will also be restarted. However, unless it is absolutely necessary, the German government does not want to intervene too much in private business operations.
It is necessary to note that the energy crisis breaks the situation of boiling frogs in warm water, and the danger of relying on a single energy supply is undoubtedly exposed. In addition to stress response, Germany and the United Kingdom have finally begun to consider longer-term supply.
htmlOn September 25, Germany's second largest natural gas supplier RWE and Abu Dhabi Petroleum Corporation signed a liquefied natural gas agreement, which will supply Germany starting from December, with a volume of 137,000 cubic meters. htmlFor more than 0 years, because Russian natural gas is too convenient and cheap and the lack of demand for liquefied natural gas, Germany is not very enthusiastic about the construction of liquefied natural gas terminals. After the energy crisis began, Germany soon announced that it would build two new liquefied natural gas terminals in the country.As for the UK, in the past, British families used the most electricity in the entire Western Europe , and even exceeded the colder temperatures in Nordic. Two-thirds of UK households have only barely reached D-level ratings, and this group of people will spend at least £1,000 more this year. Therefore, the UK's way to deal with the energy crisis is to become more economical. For example, ordinary people rarely use gas boiler and replace the appliances at home with saving type.
Germany, France and the United Kingdom, these key European countries are basically in place. Winter 2022 will be a watershed season. Will populism rise under high energy bills? Will the old tune be repeated after "national priority"? Or would they rather endure short-term pain in exchange for longer-term gains? These unknown factors determine whether Europe will re-take the old path, or completely change its lifestyle and become greener and more environmentally friendly. All of this will be revealed next spring.
36Carbon
