"Primary energy" and why nations need it if they want to be independent

Very few people understand how crucial "primary energy" is.  As vital as electricity is, it's not primary energy:  Some other form of energy must be used to produce electricity.

Germany had six flawless nuclear powerplants.  Never had an incident.  Nevertheless, following the decrees of former communists like Merkel (and her equally suspect predecessors), last December the country shut down half of those plants, and plan to shut down the last three at the end of 2022.

Now, with Russia "temporarily" not selling gas to Germany, German pols must decide whether to keep gas-fired generating plants running, or shut those down and divert remaining supplies of gas to industry and homes.

It takes a moment for most people to grasp the consequences of that decision, either way.  For example, BASF is Germany’s largest chemical manufacturer. The BASF chemical complex uses huge amounts of natural gas.  If gas is diverted to homes, 20,000 production-related jobs will vanish overnight.

Communists and anarchists are delighted by this prospect.  Production workers who'd lose their jobs, not so much.  

Germany being dependent on Russian gas to function is a huge incentive for Germany to stop opposing Russia--for example by siding with NATO in trying to persuade Russia to stop destroying civilian apartments in Ukraine.

The lesson here: any nation that depends on another nation for energy or food loses much its autonomy.