When European gas prices began to climb last year, it was because of a fast-deepening mismatch between demand and supply of energy, with renewables underperforming at a crucial time. The mismatch is still here, and supply just got cut considerably. Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany will be firing up coal plants that were supposed to be retired in the not too distant future as the supply of Russian gas shrunk because of technical problems, according to Gazprom, or political reasons, according to Germany's economy minister. And a German utility just sealed the first European long-term LNG supply deal with a U.S. ... (full story)