Angela Merkel has decided to close Germany's coal power plants. Аll of them.

[crazytown]

(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that her country would withdraw from coal-fired power production by 2038, showing her support for the deadline recommended by a government-appointed commission.

The so-called coal commission said last month that Germany should shut down all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest and proposed at least 40 billion euros ($45.7 billion) in aid to coal-mining states affected by the phase-out.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-energy-coal/germanys-merkel-signals-support-for-2038-coal-exit-deadline-idUSKCN1PU0BV

Merkel’s decision has stirred up considerable controversy in Germany. Critics contend that the Coal Power Plants could be closed a decade earlier if the Government was really serious. All of Germany’s nuclear power plants will be shuttered by 2022.

In 1990 there were 115,000 employees in the brown coal sector of reunited Germany. Now there are only 20,000. And there are 330,000 workers in renewables.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/coal-bites-the-dust-in-germany-europe-s-greenest-nation-20190208-p50wh0.html

[marble falls]

1. How much nuclear?

[crazytown]

3. Zero Nuclear. All Nuclear plants to close by 2022

They took that decision after Fukushima.

[marble falls]

5. And the US couldn't have done this, too??? Makes sense. Germany is running out of energy ...

from nonrenewable resources. The US still has cheap energy.

[bobbieinok]

2. Surface coal mining devastated large areas in former East Germany. Merkel experienced it there

In 1990, a group I was with visited part of the former East Germany and saw some of the devastation for ourselves.

[crazytown]

4. Interesting point.

She grew up with it.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I like the aid to the coal-mining states, too.

If the Dem candidate proposes shutting down coal power plants, I think they should also propose job training and green jobs for coal-mining states in the U.S. WV and KY, for instance, need to stop depending on coal to pay their bills. They need to realize that coal jobs aren't going to be around much longer, at least not as many as there are now. If they get training and investment in their towns, coal dependent communities will be more likely to accept the loss of coal mining jobs.

[crazytown]

8. I think that's very significant.

The rust belt was decimated by free trade deals. Politicians were eager to tout the benefits for the general economy but ‘forgot’ the communities that would pay the price. Aid should be targeted and generous.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. exactly what Hillary proposed

The plans that HRC published included infrastructure spending, 'green' jobs training, and 'green' manufacturing for displaced coal industry workers.

All of us were robbed in 2016. Gotta get the Russian mobsters out of our government.

[Liberal In Texas]

7. Just shows ya what an aggressive gov't supported solar program can do.

?mw=900

[crazytown]

9. Yeah. Why not require new buildings to be fitted with solar panels

They do not have to be eyesores.

[Blue_true]

10. More work can be done in the area of turning roofing tiles into cheap solar energy converters.

Roofing technology is still in the dark ages.

[Liberal In Texas]

12. That's cool.

Also require them to be wired in the garage or someplace outside to be able to plug-in a charging stations for electric cars.

[B Stieg]

11. It's getting very clear...

Renewables are the future...now!

[AllyCat]

13. This should make everyone smile:

"In 1990 there were 115,000 employees in the brown coal sector of reunited Germany. Now there are only 20,000. And there are 330,000 workers in renewables".

[Takket]

14. 45 billion????

How did they figure 45 billion for an industry with 20000 people? That is over 2 million for every person effected.

[Fuzzpope]

15. That's what I zeroed in on as well.

That's a nice chunk of cash getting scrubbed.

Something stinks there.

[dlk]

16. It Takes a Woman...

[Ron Obvious]

17. And how much will natural gas imports from Russia go up then?

Not that that isn't still an improvement from an environmental point of view, because coal is filthy, but you can't just change one factor in these complicated systems. Closing the nuclear power plants led to an increase in coal, and that was disastrous from an environmental point of view.

[crazytown]

18. The Public demanded the nuclear plants closed.

There’s been a strong anti-nuclear sentiment in Germany since the 1980s. The Green Party there was founded on a platform of a nuclear free Germany.

What you say is correct - but you didn’t get any of the fallout from Chernobyl.

[hunter]

19. NIMBY initiative. I'm sure they'll be happy to import natural gas, coal, and nuclear power...

... especially when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining over Germany.

Here is a chart of Germany's power mix:

https://www.energy-charts.de/power.htm

[crazytown]

21. The wind is pretty reliable out in the North Sea.

One thing they don’t import is coal dust. NIMBY indeed. Let those coat fired power stations poison someone else. Like Slavs. We are Germans.