South Stream and the Nabucco gas pipelines, investing in an obsolete energy economy

The Russian South Stream Gaspipeline will end in Italy and not in Austria [1]
Ukraine has accused the Energy Community of violating Ukraine's rights and interests   Ukraine accused the Energy Community of violating the rights and  interests of Ukraine by not opposing the construction by Russia of the Southern Stream pipeline and reservoirs. According to president Yanukovych the construction of by-pass pipelines will decrease the pumping volumes for Ukraine and thus will invalidate its gas pipelines. [2]

The obsolete energy economy Following the claims of Ukraine and trying to protect interests of the European Nabucco gas pipeline, the European Commission blocked the planing of the South Stream. The pipeline  which will now end in Italy, instead of Austria, an European gas pipeline hub. The  South Italian link  is also cancelled. Map: Location of South Stream. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Stream

The South Stream gas pipeline is owned by 50 per cent by Gazprom, 20 percent by the Italian company Eni, 15 per cent by the French EdF and 15 per cent by Wintershall Holding (BASF), which signed a  shareholder agreement for the offshore section. [3]

Costs [4]
The pipeline is expected to cost €19 – 24 billion including the construction of offshore section which will cost of €8.6 billion. The cost of onshore sections will depend of the exact route of the pipeline. It was announced that the Hungarian section will cost US$2 billion.

The obsolete energy economy
Investing in obsolete carbon based fuels is to stick on energy forms which does not look into the reality of the next decade. It is driven by the lobby of oil an gas. The governments of the industrialised countries, notably the USA are stubbornly relying of fossil and nuclear energy, disregarding interests of the whole humanity.

The climate institutes, such as the Potsdam Institute of Climate, advisor of the German Chancellor failed to do their job as scientists and have supported the interests of the fossil energy corporations. The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy is another example of failure of the established scientific  institutes to counter the aggressive  trend to the destruction of our planet. The lobby of the energy giants are sponsoring their projects, and no one dares to express doubts related to this business.

Once again the Climate Conference of Durban 2011 demonstrated the unwillingness of scientists to change the Status Quo. The Occupy movements tries to overcome the incapacity of scientists at institutes an at goivernment, like Steven Chu, a failed energy ministry of USA.

Alternatives to a decaying global energy strategy
Solar and wind energy, together with hydrogen as energy storage will be the global energy economy for decades to come. Natural resources may be saved for future generations and the total breakdown of the global ecology  may be avoided. Big corporations are not excluded from this business. In fact, it is a real new field of activities which will guarantee their survival. The electric car movement shows how fast the change is taking place.

[1] South-Stream-Pipeline soll in Italien enden Handelsblatt  14 Dec 2011.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/south-stream-pipeline-soll-in-italien-enden/5960562.html

[2] Yanukovych angered by EU blessing to Russia to built Southern Stream and reservoirs. 19.Dec 2011.
http://zik.ua/en/news/2011/12/19/324957

[3] South Stream finds new shareholders
http://pipelinesinternational.com/news/south_stream_finds_new_shareholders/063632/#

[4] Gazprom Reveals Unaffordable Costs of South Stream Project. The Jamestown Foundation.
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[swords]=8fd5893941d69d0be3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews[any_of_the_words]=South%20Stream&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=34495&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=9422e92d79