Excellent coverage: the history and planning behind Germany's nuclear phase out.

[kristopher]

From World Resource International

In Germany’s Nuclear Phase-Out, Renewable Energy Plans Are Clear
By Jennifer Morgan on June 7, 2011

Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in the United States yesterday to be presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, coming shortly after her announcement that Germany plans to phase out nuclear energy by 2022 and accelerate the transition to a clean energy system largely built on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Jennifer Morgan analyzes the steps the country is taking to move to a low-carbon, non-nuclear future.

Chancellor Merkel’s announcement last week that her conservative government planned to accelerate the phase-out of nuclear power seemed to catch many around the world by surprise and create a fair amount of skepticism. Some painted it as a “panicked overreaction” and a “knee-jerk reaction” to the nuclear meltdown in Japan.

With the focus on the nuclear phase-out, there has been less attention paid to the fact that Germany’s new energy plan is also an accelerated phase-in of renewable energy and energy efficiency. It is wise to take a closer look at the decision to understand how the world’s fourth largest economy plans to succeed with this new energy plan while at the same time sticking to its ambitious climate change goals and laws.

Far from a short-sighted political reaction to the nuclear crisis, Germany has put in place the laws, infrastructure and has the public support to make this transition happen.

The Roots of Germany’s Energy Transition

Yesterday, Merkel’s Cabinet agreed on a package of energy laws to ...

http://www.wri.org/stories/2011/06/germanys-nuclear-phase-out-renewable-energy-plans-are-clear

[midnight]

1. K&R....

[JDPriestly]

2. This has been a long time coming.

Germany has had a strong green, anti-nuclear movement since at least the late 1970s.

[kristopher]

3. Yes, it has.

That doesn't stop the nuclear industry from trying to paint it as an irrational move to coal, though.