It's better to be green than red

It was about five years ago that the first Tesla popped up in Vilnius.  It was a recently manufactured Model 3.  Our Russian neighbor at that time said he had tried out the electric cars but the Tesla gave him the greatest range and was very happy.  I couldn't quite bring myself to ask for a test drive but no matter Teslas are now ubiquitous in Vilnius and you can rent them through Beast, an Estonian-based company that leases the electric cars throughout the Baltics for as little as ten euros for the first three hours.  However, I still haven't brought myself to try one.

There are any number of electric car rentals available.  The most popular rental company is Spark.  It started out with a fleet of VW E-up's and now has expanded into a wide range of models, including the Tesla Model Y.  The city offers all kinds of incentives including access to high-occupancy car lanes and  free parking.  The city has also unveiled its first electric trolley buses including large models manufactured in the Czech Republic.  An enterprising engineer in Klaipėda manufactured his own electric trolley bus called Dancer a few years ago and tried them out in the port city to rave reviews but apparently were too expensive for Vilnius.

Slowly but surely Lithuania is turning green.  There are far more electric turbines around the country and solar farms dot the landscape.  Thanks to EU incentives, Lithuania even makes its own solar panels with a 30-year warranty.  Used to be solar panels had no more than a seven year lifespan.  As a result, the country now produces nearly 30 percent of its electricity by sustainable energy, well above the EU average.  Lithuania is still far behind Nordic countries like Norway and Iceland which meet nearly 80 percent of their energy needs with sustainable sources, but the improvement has been one of the best in Europe. 

For years I had made the pitch to turn to cleaner forms of energy only to be met with deaf ears, but the sudden rise in oil and gas prices a few years back forced individuals and in turn the government to rethink their energy sources and policies.  The state is now even offering incentives to install solar panels on your roof, covering as much as 25 percent of the cost.  Energy companies allow you to link your home panels to their grids so that you can get rebates in winter for any excess electricity left over from the peak summer months.  If you don't have solar panels, you can choose between energy companies that rely more on sustainable energy, which can result in significant savings.

It's nice to see this big shift after years of the government trying to decide whether to build a new nuclear plant to replace the decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear plant or to invite American fracking companies to leach shale gas and oil from the ground, which was met with major protests as the one thing Lithuanians value most is their fresh water.  Lithuania finally got its off-shore liquified natural gas terminal built a few years ago which negated the need to produce its own gas to meet supply needs while it weened itself off Russian oil and gas.  

Lithuania still relies heavily on natural gas for heating, although electric heat pumps and geothermal pumps are quickly gaining ground.  Our son installed an electric heat pump in his new house and will have a wood-burning kettle as a back up on the handful of days when the temperature drops below the ability of the heat pump to produce hot air.  It's only a matter of time before dependence on natural gas is similarly greatly reduced.

This has given the country a new mindset, no longer reliant on Russian energy sources.  Lithuania also plans to cut itself from the BRELL electric grid, a leftover from the Soviet era. Estonia and Latvia plan to follow suit.  This sense of energy independence had been a long overdue.

The odd thing is that Russia still refuses to invest heavily in alternative forms of energy, thinking there will always be a market for gas, oil and coal.  Putin has even gone so far as to equate sustainable energy with gay rights in a rambling speech when much of Europe drastically cut back on Russian energy sources last year.  A message that appears to resonate with ultra-conservatives who prefer their "traditional" forms of energy.

It's not like all Russians think this way.  Various groups have been pitching renewable energy for years in the country, particularly hydropower, which is already a significant part of the Russian energy infrastructure.  Russia should steal a page from Norway, which has gone almost completely green, thereby freeing up its oil and gas reserves for exports only.  A strategy Saudi Arabia is also applying.  Alas, Putin thinks of oil and gas as political tools to extract support from energy needy countries like Hungary and Turkey, not thinking of the long term impact renewable forms of energy will have on this shrinking market.  Even China has made a big push toward renewable energy.

Anyway, it no longer matters as far as Lithuanians are concerned. This great sense of empowerment has allowed its leaders to take a stronger stance against Russia and hopefully we will continue to see energy prices drop so that people don't have to struggle through winter to cover their excessive heating bills.  It's better to be green than red ; )