Month: March 2023

In the country of the blind, the one–eyed man is thought mad. The over–arching theme of this episode is “quantitative thinking”, an excercise which is never popular, even though we have to live with its results in the end. Also I introduce the expressive term Goudadämmerung for the prospective demise of the Dutch dairy industry in the face of mounting restrictions on animal husbandry.

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• 2023 ASFO Masterpost
• A Step Farther Out Masterpost
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Countries with nuclear power and a population smaller than Metro Istanbul

1. Slovenia : 2·1 million people, 1 power reactor / 688 MW, 37% nuclear electricity
2. Armenia : 3·0 M, 1/448 MW, 25%
3. Finland : 5·5 M, 4/2794 MW, 33%
4. Slovakia : 5·5 M, 4/1868 MW, 52%
5. Bulgaria : 7·0 M, 2/2006 MW, 35%
6. Switzerland : 8·6 M, 4/2960 MW, 29%
7. Belarus : 9·5M, 1/1110 MW, 14%
8. Hungary : 9·8 M, 4/1916 MW, 47%
9. United Arab Emirates : 9·8 M, 2/2762, 1·3%
10. Sweden : 6/6882 MW, 31%
11. Czech Republic : 10·7 M, 6/3964 MW, 37%
12. Belgium : 11·5 M, 7/5942 MW, 51%

Population given is for 2019. Number of reactors and rated capacity are as of 2021–12–31. Nuclear share of electrical generation is for the full year 2021. Note that the Krsko plant in Slovenia and the Metsamor (Oktemberjan) plant in Armenia (originally two reactors, one of which has been permanently shut down) were built when those countries were part of a larger union, Yugoslavia and the USSR respectively. It is not considered good practice for any generating unit on a system to exceed 10% of the peak load, and with 25% of the average, Metsamor must be approaching that, and Armenia would definitely be a good customer for “small modular reactors”. Krsko is clearly much too large for Slovenia alone.

EU Member States which must be eliminated to meet the 11·7% energy austerity target

1. Malta : 0·5 million people / 0·11% of EU population, 0·09% of EU total GDP, 0·05% of EU total energy consumption
2. Luxembourg : 0·6 M / 0·13%, 0·44% of GDP, 0·28% of energy
3. Cyprus : 0·9 M / 0·20%, 0·16% of GDP, 0·16% of energy
4. Estonia : 1·3 M / 0·29%, 0·19% of GDP, 0·37% of energy
5. Latvia : 1·9 M / 0·42%, 0·21% of GDP, 0·32% of energy
6. Slovenia : 2·1 M / 0·47%, 0·34% of GDP, 0·49% of energy
7. Lithuania : 2·8 M / 0·62%, 0·33% of GDP, 0·54% of energy
8. Croatia : 4·1 M / 0·91%, 0·38%, 0·33% of GDP, 0·61% of energy
9. Slovakia : 5·5 M / 1·2%, 0·67%, 0·33% of GDP, 1·22% of energy
10. Bulgaria : 7·0 M / 1·6%, 0·39%, 0·33% of GDP, 1·31% of energy

Additional EU countries which may have to be eliminated

1. Ireland : 4·9 million people / 1·1% of EU population, 2·5% of EU total GDP, 0·97% of EU total energy consumption
2. Finland : 5·5 M / 1·2%, 1·7% of GDP, 2·4% of energy
3. Denmark : 5·8 M / 1·3%, 2·3% of GDP, 1·1% of energy
4. Austria : 8·9 M / 2·0%, 2·8% of GDP, 2·4% of energy
5. Hungary : 9·8 M / 2·2%, 1·0% of GDP, 1·9% of energy
6. Portugal : 10 M / 2·3%, 1·5% of GDP, 1·6% of energy
7. Greece : 11 M / 2·4%, 1·4% of GDP, 1·6% of energy
8. Czech Republic : 11 M / 2·4%, 1·5% of GDP, 3·1% of energy

Vive la France! Macron’s government does some good things, some questionable things, and some extremely stupid things. Will revulsion against the bad lead to a wiping out of the good? Can anyone explain why the French Left insists on imitating the German Energiewende, even after seeing just exactly what happens with it in practice? And what would I do, if I were in charge there? (Minor glitch at the beginning)

• Archive Recording
• 2023 ASFO Masterpost
• A Step Farther Out Masterpost
• Previous Week
• Following Week
• Patreon campaign