‘Energy weapon’ could kill 140,000 Sober or bright?
Concerns soaring electricity prices will lead to deaths
More people will die in Europe this winter due to Vladimir Putin’s “energy weapon” than have perished on the battlefield in his war in Ukraine, according to an analysis.
The Economist modelled the effect of soaring electricity prices on deaths during winter and concluded that the current cost of energy will likely lead to an extra 147,000 mortalities if it is a typical winter.
In a particularly harsh winter that could rise to 185,000, but even if it is a mild winter the figure would still be 79,000.
It estimated battlefield deaths in the war so far as about 60,000, up to 30,000 each for Russia and Ukraine.
The statistical model included all the EU countries along with Britain, Norway and Switzerland.
Before the war Russia supplied between 40 and 50 per cent of natural gas imported by the EU.
Residential gas and electricity prices have surged as a result. This winter, temperatures are expected not to be extreme either way, compared with recent decades, and it is also expected to be a typical flu season.
The model found that, if weather is average, a 10 per cent increase in electricity prices is linked to a rise in deaths of 0.6 per cent.
The model for the effects of high energy costs did not include Ukraine.
It noted that, due to Russian attacks on infrastructure, Ukraine would suffer more extra civilian deaths than any of the countries in the model. — Telegraph Group Ltd
Early season merrymakers sipping mulled wine and shopping for holiday decorations packed the Verona Christmas market for its inaugural weekend. But beyond the wooden market stalls, the Italian city still has not decked out its granite-clad pedestrian streets with twinkling holiday lights as officials debate how bright to make the season during an energy crisis.
In cities across Europe, officials are wrestling with a choice as energy prices have gone up because of Russia’s war in Ukraine: Dim Christmas lighting to send a message of energy conservation and solidarity with citizens squeezed by higher utility bills and inflation, while protecting public coffers. Or let the lights blaze in a message of defiance after two years of pandemic-suppressed Christmas seasons, illuminating cities with holiday cheer that retailers hope will loosen people’s purse strings.
“If they take away the lights, they might as well turn off Christmas,” said Estrella Puerto, who sells traditional Spanish mantillas, or women’s veils, in a small store in Granada, Spain, and says Christmas decorations draw business.
Fewer lights are sparkling from the centerpiece tree at the famed Strasbourg Christmas market, which attracts 2 million people every year, as the French city seeks to reduce public energy consumption by 10 per cent this year.
From Paris to London, city officials are limiting hours of holiday illumination, and many have switched to more energy-efficient LED lights or renewable energy sources. London’s Oxford Street shopping district hopes to cut energy consumption by twothirds by limiting the illumination of its lights to 3-11pm and installing LED bulbs. —AP