The Impact of Germany’s Decision to Phase out Nuclear Energy

oilprice.com ^ | 09/11/2011 | John Daly

[bananaman22]

On 30 May, in the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany would close all of its 18 nuclear power plants between 2015 and 2022, which produce about 28 percent of the country's electricity.

Eight have now been taken offline, and with the winter coming on Berlin is scrambling to make up the energy shortfall lest the country suffer blackouts combined with the need to import massive amounts of electricity.

Despite Germany's Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (German Development Bank) being set to underwrite renewable energy and energy efficiency investments in Germany worth $137.3 billion over the next five years, Merkel’s government has now announced that in addition to going green, it will also build a dozen coal-fired power plants as part of the country’s future energy mix. In order to assure the energy transition, the government also plans to subsidize new natural gas power plants as well.

Now the consequences of the 30 June Bundestag law phasing out nuclear power are impacting. On 19 October Germany’s Minister of Economics and Technology Philipp Roesler somberly told Parliament, "The real work starts now," adding that the ministry now had the goals "To ensure the security of the energy supply and to protect the environment, within acceptable financial conditions." Afterwards, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen told legislators at the same session, "Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the two pillars of the new energy policy." The next day Roesler in the company of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a joint press conference informed reporters that Germany had sharply lowered its 2012 growth forecast to 1 percent. In April, the month following Fukushima but before the German government decided to phase out nuclear power, the Economy Ministry had predicted a 2012 growth rate of 1.8 percent.

The government’s newly pragmatic approach contrasts with the hopes of many environmentalists, who believe that Germany now has an historic opportunity to embrace renewable power rather than pursuing the retrograde step of commissioning new coal burning power plants.

But government ministers are increasingly concerned primarily with ensuring the security of the nation’s energy supply, even though the 30 June legislation mandated that Germany’s share of energy from renewable sources must increase from 17 percent to 35 percent in 2020 and reach 80 percent by 2050. Full article at: Germany Faces Sticker Shock Over Renewable Energy to Replace Nuclear

[Navy Patriot]

Germans better hope for Global Warming, so they don’t freeze.

[FatherofFive]

Let them freeze in the dark.

[The Working Man]

I see a return of an old business model- Wood and Coal fired stoves and furnaces. Wood Cutters and Coal Miners and residential Coal Delivery businesses. What’s old is new again.

[radioone]

A friend of mine installed one of these “corn burners”. http://www.corn-stoves.com/corn_furnaces.html

[The Working Man]

I use a fireplace insert that uses a forced air draft around the hearth to push warmed air into the central room of the house. It works quite well, I may switch it out to a wood stove insert in a couple of years though.