The Greek version of this post appeared on 27 Dec 2012
A few days before Christmas, on a Piraeus street, without a single grill house at a radius of at least 100 metres, I thought a grill party was going on. It was a bit less tasty than that, for my nose.
There was an explanation for this, my fellow-traveller gave it to me. It seemed reasonable. A few evenings later, I got convinced. It was Christmas Eve and the same smell dominated the south Athens exterior coastal highway - quite far from the zone of influence of any souvlaki-house.
I parked my car outdoors in Kallithea, a southern Athens suburb full of blocks-of-flats (with scarce indoor parking spaces). One and a half days later, the windscreen had ashes on it.
Four-plus-million-strong Athens now burns far more wood than ever. Reduced incomes and increased taxation have forced many households (and companies) to limit consumption (which is not necessarily a bad idea, the old TV ad with "grandpa in T-shirt" was an exaggeration by all means) while looking for "alternatives" - albeit, ones causing additional problems of their own.
Unfortunately, the consumer's own choices cannot alone lead to greater energy efficiency. For the game is "fixed", regulated by the State through taxation. Equalizing taxation for heating oil with that of vehicle diesel was a violent act. It was also strongly advertised: allegedly for fighting illegal trade (meaning, enforcement had failed); however, they failed to mention that Germany, a generally exemplary country, is one of several countries that still apply differential taxation (vehicle diesel is generally 50% more expensive than heating oil in the EU's largest economy).
It is not absurd that so many people turn to "something cheaper", such as:
- Natural gas (sometimes LPG too) - also subject to a totally controlled oligopoly, the State can do pretty much whatever it wants regarding taxation.
- Electricity - convectors, heat pumps, even "silly" energy-devouring fan heaters or winter airconditioners. There too, the Public Power Corporation - precisely, those Frankenstein companies / authorities created by so-called liberalization - maintains a State monopoly and does whatever it wants.
- Wood or "pellets" for fireplaces, stoves and other "traditional"-style, smelly heaters. Sometimes, sophisticated solutions (or makeshift ones) are being applied, in the spirit of "central" heating (hot water or air flowing in the whole home). At other times it's simply that standards get lowered, so that we feel hot in the living room, get rolled up in our bedrooms and simply shiver in the bathroom. Some people call this wretchedness. Worse, the need for hard savings leads also to the degradation of other quality standards, not just comfort:
(1) Safety: Cleanness and maintenance require cost (and care). Things were simple with the mass product called "central heating in blocks-of-flats". New tricks come with new knowledge to be mastered.
(2) Environmental impact: Shall we see again centrally-placed electronic signs informing us about the values of pollutants? Shall the overall impacts (at town and even country levels) of this dramatic change in habits ever be measured?
(3) Energy efficiency: At the end of the day, in a world seeking a more viable balance between energy production and consumption, especially in a country still based on imports for covering its energy needs (oil, gas), taxation-inflicted distortions can hardly lead to efficiency. I will consume what (seemingly) costs me less, which nevertheless does not necessarily lead to wiser use of (truly) limited resources.
To be fair, distortions are caused not only by taxation but also by the very oligopolistic structure of the energy market (the oil cartels et cetera) as well as political tensions and fixations.
- "Taboos" (e.g. nuclear energy) are not uniquely Greek - see Merkel's "green reaction" after Fukushima.
- "Green growth", too, wasn't of course only George Papandreou's vision. Here, it's true that the lack of policy was masked under an impressive new ministry title (headed by Tina Birbili), with "Climate Change" added to its name; also, solar energy "entrepreneurship" was promised "to the people" (not to mention the recycling factories which, according to some Pasok people back in 2009, would serve all of the Balkans - not an energy issue admittedly, hence no further mention here); finally, an energy certificate requirement came into force, little more than a job opportunity for several fellow-engineers with decreasing workloads during the recession. Whether our homes become more "energy efficient" just because an engineer spends a couple of hours - for 200 EUR - to get a "paper" issued, this you can judge for yourselves.
Last but not least: the unspeakable behaviour (roguish farting, pardon my French - full of methane) of some politicians and journalists towards an MEP who dared say that "the king has no clothes", that is, the search for specific energy sources (fossil fuels) will not necessarily lead to economic, environmental or energy benefits for the country. I think that this attitude is part of the package also including "ecologists" bothered by wind generators...
There was an explanation for this, my fellow-traveller gave it to me. It seemed reasonable. A few evenings later, I got convinced. It was Christmas Eve and the same smell dominated the south Athens exterior coastal highway - quite far from the zone of influence of any souvlaki-house.
I parked my car outdoors in Kallithea, a southern Athens suburb full of blocks-of-flats (with scarce indoor parking spaces). One and a half days later, the windscreen had ashes on it.
Four-plus-million-strong Athens now burns far more wood than ever. Reduced incomes and increased taxation have forced many households (and companies) to limit consumption (which is not necessarily a bad idea, the old TV ad with "grandpa in T-shirt" was an exaggeration by all means) while looking for "alternatives" - albeit, ones causing additional problems of their own.
Unfortunately, the consumer's own choices cannot alone lead to greater energy efficiency. For the game is "fixed", regulated by the State through taxation. Equalizing taxation for heating oil with that of vehicle diesel was a violent act. It was also strongly advertised: allegedly for fighting illegal trade (meaning, enforcement had failed); however, they failed to mention that Germany, a generally exemplary country, is one of several countries that still apply differential taxation (vehicle diesel is generally 50% more expensive than heating oil in the EU's largest economy).
It is not absurd that so many people turn to "something cheaper", such as:
- Natural gas (sometimes LPG too) - also subject to a totally controlled oligopoly, the State can do pretty much whatever it wants regarding taxation.
- Electricity - convectors, heat pumps, even "silly" energy-devouring fan heaters or winter airconditioners. There too, the Public Power Corporation - precisely, those Frankenstein companies / authorities created by so-called liberalization - maintains a State monopoly and does whatever it wants.
- Wood or "pellets" for fireplaces, stoves and other "traditional"-style, smelly heaters. Sometimes, sophisticated solutions (or makeshift ones) are being applied, in the spirit of "central" heating (hot water or air flowing in the whole home). At other times it's simply that standards get lowered, so that we feel hot in the living room, get rolled up in our bedrooms and simply shiver in the bathroom. Some people call this wretchedness. Worse, the need for hard savings leads also to the degradation of other quality standards, not just comfort:
(1) Safety: Cleanness and maintenance require cost (and care). Things were simple with the mass product called "central heating in blocks-of-flats". New tricks come with new knowledge to be mastered.
(2) Environmental impact: Shall we see again centrally-placed electronic signs informing us about the values of pollutants? Shall the overall impacts (at town and even country levels) of this dramatic change in habits ever be measured?
(3) Energy efficiency: At the end of the day, in a world seeking a more viable balance between energy production and consumption, especially in a country still based on imports for covering its energy needs (oil, gas), taxation-inflicted distortions can hardly lead to efficiency. I will consume what (seemingly) costs me less, which nevertheless does not necessarily lead to wiser use of (truly) limited resources.
To be fair, distortions are caused not only by taxation but also by the very oligopolistic structure of the energy market (the oil cartels et cetera) as well as political tensions and fixations.
- "Taboos" (e.g. nuclear energy) are not uniquely Greek - see Merkel's "green reaction" after Fukushima.
- "Green growth", too, wasn't of course only George Papandreou's vision. Here, it's true that the lack of policy was masked under an impressive new ministry title (headed by Tina Birbili), with "Climate Change" added to its name; also, solar energy "entrepreneurship" was promised "to the people" (not to mention the recycling factories which, according to some Pasok people back in 2009, would serve all of the Balkans - not an energy issue admittedly, hence no further mention here); finally, an energy certificate requirement came into force, little more than a job opportunity for several fellow-engineers with decreasing workloads during the recession. Whether our homes become more "energy efficient" just because an engineer spends a couple of hours - for 200 EUR - to get a "paper" issued, this you can judge for yourselves.
Last but not least: the unspeakable behaviour (roguish farting, pardon my French - full of methane) of some politicians and journalists towards an MEP who dared say that "the king has no clothes", that is, the search for specific energy sources (fossil fuels) will not necessarily lead to economic, environmental or energy benefits for the country. I think that this attitude is part of the package also including "ecologists" bothered by wind generators...
