Environment & Energy
Related: About this forum3 Reasons Germans are Going Renewable 'At All Costs'
John Farrell
October 23, 2013
Germany is racing past 20 percent renewable energy on its electricity grid, but news stories stridently warn that this new wind and solar power is costing "billions." But often left out (or buried far from the lede) is the overwhelming popularity of the country's relentless focus on energy change (energiewende).
...
1. It's about the cost, not the price
Most news stories focus on the cost of electricity in Germany, which has some of the highest rates per kilowatt-hour in the world. But they don't note that the average German electricity bill about $100 a month is the same as for most Americans. Germans are much more efficient users of energy than most, so they can afford higher rates without having higher bills. (Note to self: check out options for energy efficiency).
2. It's about vision
Germany doesn't just have an incremental approach to renewable energy, but a commitment supported by 84 percent of residents to get to 100% renewable energy "as quickly as possible." A few U.S. states have renewable energy visions (e.g. 33% by 2020, 25% by 2025) that approach Germany's, but they're mired in the notion that despite enormous savings to society in terms of health and environmental benefits, renewable energy shouldn't cost any more today than conventional, dirty energy on the utility bill. Germans have taken the long view (about energy security, price volatility, etc).
3. It's about ownership
I lied in #1. Support for Germany's renewable energy quest isn't about cost of energy, but about the opportunity to own a slice of the energy system. Millions of Germans are building their retirement nest egg by individually or collectively owning a share of wind and solar power plants supplying clean energy to their communities. Nearly half of the country's 63,000 megawatts of wind and solar power is owned locally, and these energy owners care as much about the persistence of renewable energy they own as they do about the energy bill they pay. Not only do these German energy owners reduce their own net cost of energy, every dollar diverted from a distant multinational utility company multiplies throughout their local economy....
Not only does local ownership flip the notion of energy costs as consumers become producers, it also ...
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/10/3-reasons-germans-are-going-renewable-at-all-costs
Baitball Blogger
(46,676 posts)and then steal the idea.
At least we know why no one in the U.S.A. is freaking out about the way Creationism has taken over the landscape. Not when we can depend on other countries to work out the science for us.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Iterate
(3,020 posts)That was one of the early phrases from about the time the term 'energiewende' was first coined. It comes from Wyhl in the mid-1970s, where the first step in a planned massive industrialization of the upper Rhein Valley was to be the construction of a nuclear power plant in their village.
Initial objections to the plant had little to do with the kind of tech or radiation focused arguments of today; it was more about the destruction of the livelihoods of the people, villages, and vineyards in the area. They also knew that the concentration of new employment there would depopulate many hundreds of other villages elsewhere. This was mid cold war, so the notion from being so close to the front lines that anything could quickly turn glowing-side up wasn't lost on them either.
The first small protests by clergy and farmers and farm wives were ignored. When construction permission was given, a few dozen of them occupied the site, and were met by over-reacting police with water cannon, ending the occupation. Five days later 30,000 citizens from nearby towns showed up to reoccupy the site. It wasn't built. The area wasn't industrialized. Hence, "Nai, hämmer g'sait".
It's probably not possible to count or overestimate the sheer number of meetings, planning sessions, engineering reports, pilot studies and campaigns that have occurred since then. Prior to Energiewende, coal was thought to be the only reliable national resource, but it would be phased out. The FiT was introduced in 1991, and by 1999 even the most conservative politicians realized that the nuclear industry was just one part of the controlling power cartel which was blocking every change they wanted to make. The parliamentary vote to phaseout nuclear power was nearly unanimous.
So it's a 40-year old, grassroots, democratic movement, not, as some would try to tell you, something cooked up post-Fukushima by a fearful Merkel and a few commies.
Anyone who thinks this movement will fail is a damned fool who has been paying attention.
kristopher
(29,798 posts)From the "German Energy Transition" (non-official) website. They offer a section on the history of the movement, and your recitation fills it out nicely.
http://energytransition.de
A Fighting climate change +
B Reducing energy imports +
C Stimulating technology innovation and the green economy +
D Reducing and eliminating the risks of nuclear power +
E Strengthening energy security +
F Strengthening local economies and providing social justice +
http://energytransition.de
Iterate
(3,020 posts)There's a program called ZeroWaste 2020 for recycling that hasn't gotten much attention, a shortage of train drivers because mass transit use is up, small cities initiating driving reductions by requiring entry stickers. Always something, and I know I'm forgetting the best ones. Even "solar balconies" for tower blocs.
I started puttering with some numbers a few weeks ago, figuring that coal journalists from London and NY would have a problem with TWh vs. mtons, and sure enough it looks like they jumped to conclusions. No wonder markets fail.
But then today I saw that some people who are much better and quicker with the numbers have been doing the same thing:
http://www.renewablesinternational.net/did-co2-emissions-from-german-power-sector-drop-in-2013/150/537/75866/
It's probably not ready for prime-time yet, but one to watch for when real numbers are available.
quadrature
(2,049 posts)this effort would be vastly more
meaningful if it was directed
at better (and more timely)
hybrid and electric cars
kristopher
(29,798 posts)January 8, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin
More than 100,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) are on the road today, and sales are rising fast. During 2014, the global EV industry is poised to grow by 86 percent and will surpass more than 346,000 new vehicles sold. More than 700,000 PEVs will hit the roads globally by the end of 2014, with automakers introducing several dozen new PEV models -- from small city cars to higher-priced luxury vehicles -- during the year, offering consumers unprecedented choice in emissions-free driving. This is according to new research from Navigant. In fact, Navigant predicts that there will be more than 35 million EVs on roads worldwide by 2022...
Read more: EVs could explode to more than 35M worldwide - FierceSmartGrid
http://www.fiercesmartgrid.com/story/evs-could-explode-more-35m-worldwide/2014-01-08#ixzz2pyF8cZG6