Energy Sovereignty: A Reachable Objective

Translated from "Effetto Seneca"

 

Fascism gave many things a bad name, but it is not necessarily the case that everything that was done during the 20 years of Fascism was wrong. Autarky - the idea that Italy should be economically independent, was not wrong per se, taking into account the fact that Italy at that time was under heavy economic sanctions and could not import the coal it needed. Unfortunately, there was no way to create coal out of nothing, and autarky turned out to be more of a political propaganda stunt than anything else. A flashy but unhelpful little game, equivalent to our "greenwashing" or "happy degrowth." Today, however, we have renewable technologies that are much more efficient than those of 100 years ago, and we can seriously think, if not of an "energy autarky" in Italy, at least of an "energy sovereignty" that would make it possible for us to avoid being blackmailed again and again by fossil fuel exporters.

By Ugo Bardi

In recent times, the energy situation, and in particular the natural gas situation, has gone somewhat under the radar in the big election noise. With Russia apparently struggling on the field, even the evil Putin seems to be less scary. Moreover, just these days, the price of natural gas on the Amsterdam exchange has dropped below 100 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) after touching nearly 350 euros at the end of August.

Can we conclude that the worst is over? If so, it would mean we can celebrate with a dish of spaghetti with meat sauce cooked on the gas stove. Or even, miracle, a nice hot shower! But make no mistake about it. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, the situation remains very difficult. Prices remain high compared to the average in past years and, more importantly, they go up and down uncontrollably. In the next crisis, they may return to unsustainable levels in a very short time.

Unfortunately, for our economic, and even physical, survival, we not only remain dependent on imported fossil fuels but also have to pay for them at prices that may be higher than what we can afford to pay. Not to mention what might happen if gas supplies from Russia were to be cut off completely. Without energy, or with overpriced energy, we seriously risk the economic collapse of the entire country.

Given the way things are, I think it is time to talk about "energy sovereignty" in parallel with the concept of "food sovereignty," recently adopted by the new Italian government. Obviously, we are talking about goals that are not easy to achieve, but neither are they impossible, at least in the form of a substantial reduction in both our food and energy imports. This would be good for our balance of payments, produce jobs, and shelter us from blackmail by the various dictatorships on duty. We would also have less pollution and eat healthier foods.

But how to get to energy sovereignty? This topic has been discussed at length, and the conclusions are fairly well known. First, do not listen to politicians who enjoy bringing up phantom nuclear technologies of the umpteenth generation without having the slightest idea of what they are talking about. Not only is nuclear power too expensive for our resources, but neither would it bring us energy sovereignty: we would have to import uranium instead of oil. As for liquid natural gas, regasifiers can help us at an early stage. But they are not a good idea, both because liquid natural gas is expensive and because it is still imported energy from abroad.

In practice, it is becoming clear that energy sovereignty for Italy and Europe can only be based on a combination of efficiency, electrification, and renewable energy, mainly photovoltaics, with the help of wind, geothermal and hydropower. Improvements in renewable technologies, both for energy production and storage, have been impressive in recent years. Today, there is a real prospect of a widespread renewable energy system that produces abundant and low-cost energy.

Of course, this is not something that can be done in a few months, or even a few years. But in a decade or two we can substantially change our country's energy outlook and create a more peaceful and prosperous future for ourselves. All it takes is commitment, some sacrifice, and not expecting miracles in the short term. And stopping the war in Ukraine would also help a lot.