Just spoke to one of my friends in Austria and the energy situation in Europe is anything but certain...
Electricity escalating and natural gas may not be available...
About 20-25 years ago Natural Gas and Propane knocked the socks off heating oil and electricity and many took the plunge saving lots with short payback for converting to gas.
Austria building code which required new construction to have chimney for wood combustion even if buried in the wall now look very far sighted because there is a surge in demand for wood and wood stoves...
There are still planners that remember what happens when self sufficiency is secondary or replaced by the Green Movement.
...
Europe was having an energy crisis at the end of last year due to their government policies. That got worse in the early winter, and then nosedived with Putin's War. it is going to get really nasty this fall, if not sooner.... The US is having energy crisis because of government policies and it is going to get really bad here if there is not a change.
Ireland had to form a coalition government in the last year or so. The two big parties that usually go in an out of power, did not have enough votes to form a government, so they had to band together with the Green party. The head of the Green party was made a Minister and one of the things he controls is Climate.
A few months ago, well into the energy crisis, he announced that due to some small number of debatable death cause by coal burning, that NO solid fuel burning would be allowed after this summer. This include peat, wood, coal, and I think pellets. Now, many people in rural Ireland depend on solid fuel for heat, especially wood and peat. The Minister has not provided any idea on how these homes will be heated next winter if the ban went into affect. The stupidity of this is astounding. Even if the Irish Government would pay to retrofit heat pumps into these houses, they do not have the HVAC techs and suppliers, to do the work. Course, all of these new heat pumps would require electrical power, at a time of increasing energy prices, and it would almost certainly be impossible for the Irish grid to supply the power....
The Irish government appear to be about to fail, everyone is looking at the UK, but Ireland has similar issues. I don't think anyone has a clue how this is going to pan out.
Later,
Dan