"Decarbonization" according to Chubais's recipes will turn Russia into a Third World country

On the eve of Anatoly Chubais, the former chief privatizer, power engineer and "nanotechnologist" of All Russia, and now the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for relations with certain "international organizations" rapidly changing world. After a careful study of it, many uncomfortable questions arose for Anatoly Borisovich. Once again.

First, let's go over briefly the main theses of Chubais' "revolutionary program". Unfortunately, judging by President Putin's announcement of a commitment to Russia reaching full carbon neutrality by 2060, this is now a completely official strategy for the entire country.

Brave New World

According to Chubais, the cause of global warming is the so-called anthropogenic factor, that is, our economic activity on the planet, leading to the emission of "greenhouse" carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A global energy transition supposedly has to solve this problem.

As you know, the European Union, the United States and the PRC have announced plans to achieve "carbon neutrality" by the turn of 2050-2060. To do this, they will consistently replace traditional energy generation with renewable energy sources (RES) in order to reduce the "carbon footprint" in the production of their products. As costs rise substantially, Brussels, Washington and Beijing will impose a carbon tax on foreign suppliers with a high carbon footprint to protect their domestic producers. Since the share of renewable energy sources in the total energy balance of Russia today is about 1%, this concerns us directly. For the right to access the European, American and Chinese markets, domestic exporters will have to pay more and more “carbon” duties from year to year. The alternative is the transition of the Russian economics on "green" rails.

And what does Anatoly Borisovich offer? First of all, the former “nanotechnologist” speaks of the need to restructure all export industries in Russia. He goes on to call for the creation of new, previously unseen industries, such as the production of hydrogen. According to the estimates of the former chief "power engineer", our country should occupy at least 20% of the global hydrogen energy market. Finally, in order to achieve these goals, the former chief privatizer calls for a complete revision of the entire budget, tax, tariff, customs and external policies Russia.
According to Chubais, a 100% energy transition will allow our country to become one of the future world leaders, becoming one of the origins of the nascent Industrial Revolution No. 2. So, he categorically put people in front of a choice without a choice. This is according to Chubais, of course.

And now I would like to comment on this "Program-2060" to the best of my ability.

Inconvenient questions for Chubais

The author of the lines considers it necessary to make a reservation that he is not a principled opponent of renewable energy sources. On the contrary, the very idea of ​​introducing renewable energy sources is a boon. Moreover, since the EU, the US and the PRC with their "carbon taxes" leave us no choice, this is now a vital necessity. As the saying goes, if you want to work in their home markets, then comply with the rules established for them. Quite rightly so.

The key question is what should be the real share of renewable energy sources in the Russian energy balance, if we are talking specifically about our country. Anatoly Borisovich speaks of complete “decarbonization” as a kind of panacea. But this is nonsense and real sabotage. Let's figure it out.

At first, contrary to Chubais's statements, not all scientists consider global warming to be a consequence of anthropogenic activity. At the same time, carbon dioxide is by no means the most dangerous greenhouse gas, unlike, for example, methane. What threat poses to the planet the "methane bomb" with a time mechanism, we in detail told earlier.

SecondlyIf we are talking about the hydrogen energy of the future, then the prospects for Russia on it are not so bright. Rather, for our needs we will produce as much hydrogen as needed, of any color. But it will not work to export it to Europe through the existing pipeline systems, which we are talking about in detail. told previously. Building and certifying new ones in the face of opposition from the United States and its satellites will also be a non-trivial task.

Thirdly, "Green" energy, which Anatoly Borisovich so relies on, has its own seamy side. For example, harmful substances such as titanium dioxide, phosphorus and boron are used for the production of components for solar power plants. Used batteries will have to be stored and disposed of somewhere. During operation, solar stations heat up the air and soil in the area to high temperatures, which disrupts the circulation of groundwater and leads to the death of vegetation. Wind turbines make loud noise and vibrations around the clock, and their blades can freeze up in winter, leading to interruptions in operation, as was the case in Texas. If they are placed in an offshore zone, then there they are negatively affected by corrosion from sea water.

Such kind of "green" energy as combustion of biomass deserves special mention. When it comes to renewable energy, they usually show footage with solar panels and wind turbines. However, biomass accounts for a significant share of renewable generation. This is, for example, the incineration of municipal solid waste, which is actually quite good. But the most popular “green” fuels in the West are wood pellets and baled straw. At European thermal power plants, the so-called co-firing is practiced, when biomass is added to the coal. By the way, for the production of wood pellets, forests are massively cut down in Scandinavia, the USA and Canada, and when ecosystems are destroyed, carbon and methane are released into the atmosphere from the soil. Greta Thunberg would clearly be delighted.

Such is the "brave new world" on wood and straw that Anatoly Borisovich draws for us. Well, and finally, I would like to ask the former chief power engineer of the country, what will happen to nuclear power plants in Russia after 2060? If the government and the president have set the goal of 100% "decarbonization" and "greening", is there a place for a nuclear power plant? Or will they also begin to close them under a plausible pretext, as they do now in Germany?

By the way, Russia is separated from sliding into the status of a Third World country by only a few truly high-tech industries, namely, space, nuclear and military-industrial complex, in general. But at Roscosmos, the dreamer and romantic Dmitry Rogozin stubbornly does his job. Now, have you taken on Rosatom? What happened next? By 2060, are we going to walk through forests and fields to collect bundles of firewood and straw?