Posted on 12/14/2014 7:32:33 PM PST by Lorianne
Germany’s plan to phase out nuclear energy and switch to renewables by 2022 is unrealistic as the country is doomed to remain dependent on fossil fuels like oil and gas for the next 70 years, energy expert Matthias Dornfeldt told RT.
Renewables can’t replace fossil fuels overnight because there’s not enough infrastructure, said Dornfeldt in an interview with RT. He believes the 21st century will be the century of gas, as the 20th century was the century of oil.
“We are going to be dependent on oil as well as on gas, as I see, for the next 50, 60, 70 years”, he said, adding there is “a huge impact of fossil fuels on the national economy in Germany.”
His comments echo a Wednesday study by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) that said Germany would remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades.
Oil, natural gas, coal and lignite account for 80 percent of German energy consumption. Germany’s game plan to switch to renewables known as Energiewende, and the recently approved National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency looking very unrealistic, the report added.
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Ping.
“We are going to be dependent on oil as well as on gas, as I see, for the next 50, 60, 70 years”
And the Russians thank you for it.
>>And the Russians thank you for it.<<
Apparently not — fracking and other sources of oil may keep the oil prices down for many years.
Texas and Nebraska and other states in the USA may make us the oil capital of the world for quite some time.
Work like heck on “Cold Fusion”.
No, they just shut down the reactors and ban use of oil and natural gas. They can self implement the Morgenthau plan 70 years after the US abandoned it.
Germany has years of experience with gas</s>
I’ve said for years they will regret the decision to abandon nuclear power. Dummkopfs!
At 45 dollars there might not be new oil plays entertained by investors. That is exactly what Obama snd the Saudi’s hope for. Yea, the existing wells will be pumped. Production however drops off precipitously over the first few years.
The market price that works for every economy is about 80 dollars a bbl. It is high enough to stimulate incvestment in offshore and shale. It is not too high to collapse economys.
Bingo. $150 oil is ridiculously expensive, but anyone who believes there might be a fracking boom at $40 is not smart enough too.
Nobody would invest in new projects on a declining market, be it an expensive fracking or less expensive conventional extraction (which still requires billions of dollars to find and develop oilfields).
“Renewables can’t replace fossil fuels overnight because there’s not enough infrastructure, ....”
ROFL. More like because there is not enough money to pay for such foolishness. Renewable power is far more expensive than conventional power. Should Germany continue its push towards renewables, it would destroy its ability to function as an advanced manufacturing economy. Relatively less expensive energy is exactly the reason why manufacturing of some items is returning to the US, especially items with a high energy content.
Germany already imports nearly 6 times as much Natural Gas as they produce themselves.
http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=GM
Germany has no liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, so the country must import natural gas exclusively through several major cross-border pipeline networks. Almost all natural gas imports come from Russia via the Nord Stream system (completed in 2011), Norway via Norpipe and Europipe systems, and the Netherlands via four main pipelines. Natural gas consumption in Germany has declined from its peak of nearly 3.6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2003 to 3.1 Tcf in 2012, largely because of energy efficiency improvements.
Germany was the fifth-largest generator of nuclear energy in the world in 2012 with 94.1 terawatthours, a decrease from 102.3 terawatthours generated the previous year. Following Japan’s Fukushima accident in March 2011, the German government decided to close eight reactors launched before 1980 because of public protests and to close Germany’s nine remaining nuclear reactors before 2022.
Coal is Germany’s most abundant indigenous energy resource, and it accounted for about 24% of Germany’s total primary energy consumption in 2012, a slight increase over the previous few years. Coal consumption increased after Japan’s Fukushima reactor accident occurred in March 2011, and Germany used coal as a substitute for nuclear power in electricity generation. Germany was the world’s eighth-largest producer of coal in 2012. Nearly all coal production serves the power and industrial sectors.
more at:
http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=GM
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