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Germany Is Showing The World How To Become A Renewable Energy Powerhouse
http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-renewable-energy-production-is-living-up-to-the-hype-2012-7
To be blunt, Germany is the world's energy production guinea pig. For the past few years, Germany has been making drastic moves in the name of progress, self-sufficency and the environment.
For one, they began to close their nuclear power facilities following the Fukushima disaster, even though it accounted for a quarter of its power production. All nuclear facilities are planned to be closed by 2022.
Around the same time, Merkel and Co. passed legislation that would cause the country to generate a third of its power through renewable sources in the next ten years, that figure jumping to 80 percent by 2050, reports the AP.
And now, they have released figures that support these broad and optimistic claims. Germany's energy industry association, BDEW, released figures detailing a production of 67.9 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy for the first half of 2012, reports Reuters. This output represents a 19.5 percent increase from the same time frame in 2011.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-renewable-energy-production-is-living-up-to-the-hype-2012-7#ixzz21oyYAcLz
31 replies
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Last edited Mon Jul 30, 2012, 09:00 AM - Edit history (1)
Biofuel made from pine trees!
http://world.honda.com/history/limitlessdreams/atype/index.html
only the "recycling" bin is the smallest and they don't take plastics. 
/boring
solar in a minute if we either had the money or the government helped us out. That would have to be federal money as we live in Texas where Perry thinks only the rich should have anything that helps the environment.
How the oil and companies are spending so much money to keep us in the dark ages. They have financed PR campaigns to make it look like using corn for fuel causes fuel shortages. That is a demonstrated fact, not just a suspicion.
And they continue to do so. Who do you think is running up the price of corn way in advance of the fall harvest? Yes--to keep it too expensive for fuel.
Thanks for posting this important story. Germany deserves a lot of credit for closing their nuclear power facilities so promptly.
Cher
For your consideration:
Is the End of Renewables Nigh as Fukushima Anniversary Nears?
By Paul Gipe, March 8, 2012
Yes, the Germans Are Cutting Solar PV Tariffs; Yes, the Solar PV Tariffs Do Need to Be Cut; No, It's Not the End of the World
In the run-up to the 11 March anniversary of the Fukushima reactor meltdown, the steady drip of anti-renewables articles in the mainstream media will become a torrent as the nuclear lobby cranks up its public relations machine. And they're taking aim at European feed-in tariffs, no doubt because of their success. Germany is particularly in their cross-hairs because of its massive development of renewable energy over the past two decades and its plan to close all its reactors for good.
I call this the "end is nigh" strategy. For example, expect to hear that Germany doesn't really produce much with all those renewables, doesn't really employ that many people building wind turbines and solar panels, and has finally seen reason and is abandoning feed-in tariffs.
Here in the U.S., we saw this approach at work this week when one of our most famous right-wing "shock jocks," Rush Limbaugh, trying to deflect a storm of criticism over his most-recent sexist remarks, launch a diatribe that building wind turbines and solar panels does not create "real jobs." That leaves one with the impression that the only "real jobs" are those involved with building, or repairing nuclear power plants — or, we should add — trying to save them from destruction.
Since the 1930s, the key to effective propaganda has been to build it around an element of truth. Thus the media and the blogosphere — at least here in the english-speaking world — are having a field day after learning that Germany's conservative ruling coalition of the CDU and FDP (with particular prodding from Philipp Rösler of the FDP) have reached an agreement to dramatically cut feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaics (solar PV) even more than already scheduled.
With this background in mind, here are some thoughts on what ...
By Paul Gipe, March 8, 2012
Yes, the Germans Are Cutting Solar PV Tariffs; Yes, the Solar PV Tariffs Do Need to Be Cut; No, It's Not the End of the World
In the run-up to the 11 March anniversary of the Fukushima reactor meltdown, the steady drip of anti-renewables articles in the mainstream media will become a torrent as the nuclear lobby cranks up its public relations machine. And they're taking aim at European feed-in tariffs, no doubt because of their success. Germany is particularly in their cross-hairs because of its massive development of renewable energy over the past two decades and its plan to close all its reactors for good.
I call this the "end is nigh" strategy. For example, expect to hear that Germany doesn't really produce much with all those renewables, doesn't really employ that many people building wind turbines and solar panels, and has finally seen reason and is abandoning feed-in tariffs.
Here in the U.S., we saw this approach at work this week when one of our most famous right-wing "shock jocks," Rush Limbaugh, trying to deflect a storm of criticism over his most-recent sexist remarks, launch a diatribe that building wind turbines and solar panels does not create "real jobs." That leaves one with the impression that the only "real jobs" are those involved with building, or repairing nuclear power plants — or, we should add — trying to save them from destruction.
Since the 1930s, the key to effective propaganda has been to build it around an element of truth. Thus the media and the blogosphere — at least here in the english-speaking world — are having a field day after learning that Germany's conservative ruling coalition of the CDU and FDP (with particular prodding from Philipp Rösler of the FDP) have reached an agreement to dramatically cut feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaics (solar PV) even more than already scheduled.
With this background in mind, here are some thoughts on what ...
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/03/is-the-end-of-renewables-nigh-as-fukushima-anniversary-nears
Does nuclear power have a negative learning curve?
By Joe Romm on Apr 6, 2011 at 4:05 pm
‘Forgetting by doing’? Real escalation in reactor investment costs
...
Before 2007, price estimates of $4000/kw for new U.S. nukes were common, but by October 2007 Moody’s Investors Service report, “New Nuclear Generation in the United States,” concluded, “Moody’s believes the all-in cost of a nuclear generating facility could come in at between $5,000 – $6,000/kw.” That same month, Florida Power and Light, “a leader in nuclear power generation,” presented its detailed cost estimate for new nukes to the Florida Public Service Commission. It concluded that two units totaling 2,200 megawatts would cost from $5,500 to $8,100 per kilowatt “” $12 billion to $18 billion total! In 2008, Progress Energy informed state regulators that the twin 1,100-megawatt plants it intended to build in Florida would cost $14 billion, which “triples estimates the utility offered little more than a year ago.” That would be more than $6,400 a kilowatt. (And that didn’t even count the 200-mile $3 billion transmission system utility needs, which would bring the price up to a staggering $7,700 a kilowatt).
Historical data cost on the French nukes have not been as well publicized. But Arnulf Grubler of the International Institute for Applied Systems in Austria, using “largely unknown public records” was able to perform an analysis of French (and U.S.) nuclear plants for Energy Policy, “The costs of the French nuclear scale-up: A case of negative learning by doing” (subs. req’d).
Before discussing that paper, it is worth noting that renewable energy technologies have classic learning curves. Here is solar:
Wind power looks similar.
While Grubler’s Energy Policy paper is ...
By Joe Romm on Apr 6, 2011 at 4:05 pm
‘Forgetting by doing’? Real escalation in reactor investment costs
Drawing on largely unknown public records, the paper reveals for the first time both absolute as well as yearly and specific reactor costs and their evolution over time. Its most significant finding is that even this most successful nuclear scale-up was characterized by a substantial escalation of real-term construction costs.
Fig. 13. Average and min/max reactor construction costs per year of completion date for US and France versus cumulative capacity completed
...
Before 2007, price estimates of $4000/kw for new U.S. nukes were common, but by October 2007 Moody’s Investors Service report, “New Nuclear Generation in the United States,” concluded, “Moody’s believes the all-in cost of a nuclear generating facility could come in at between $5,000 – $6,000/kw.” That same month, Florida Power and Light, “a leader in nuclear power generation,” presented its detailed cost estimate for new nukes to the Florida Public Service Commission. It concluded that two units totaling 2,200 megawatts would cost from $5,500 to $8,100 per kilowatt “” $12 billion to $18 billion total! In 2008, Progress Energy informed state regulators that the twin 1,100-megawatt plants it intended to build in Florida would cost $14 billion, which “triples estimates the utility offered little more than a year ago.” That would be more than $6,400 a kilowatt. (And that didn’t even count the 200-mile $3 billion transmission system utility needs, which would bring the price up to a staggering $7,700 a kilowatt).
Historical data cost on the French nukes have not been as well publicized. But Arnulf Grubler of the International Institute for Applied Systems in Austria, using “largely unknown public records” was able to perform an analysis of French (and U.S.) nuclear plants for Energy Policy, “The costs of the French nuclear scale-up: A case of negative learning by doing” (subs. req’d).
Before discussing that paper, it is worth noting that renewable energy technologies have classic learning curves. Here is solar:
Wind power looks similar.
While Grubler’s Energy Policy paper is ...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/04/06/207833/does-nuclear-power-have-a-negative-learning-curve/
