Posted on 12/25/2021 8:03:33 AM PST by Chad C. Mulligan
Coal and nuclear energy made up 40% of the overall energy mix in Germany. Meanwhile, renewables fell to 41% of the mix. Still, Germany is stuck on kicking its coal and nuclear habit—coal because it’s dirty, and nuclear because of Fukushima. The decision to retire the latter was made shortly after the Fukushima disaster, but since then, coal use has risen to fill in the gaps left by nuclear.
This year, Germany plans to shut down the Grohnde, Gundremmingen C, and Brokdorf nuclear plants, which will leave Germany with just three. Those final three will be retired by the end of next year.
For coal, Germany has agreed to phase out coal by 2030—up from its previous goal of retiring coal in the country by 2038.
These two moves alone put Germany, gasping for energy, in a precarious position. But there’s more.
Germany also has a plan to kick its natural gas habit, with plans to end power generation from gas by 2040. Currently, half of all German homes are heated with natural gas. By 2026, a ban in Germany on the installation of heating in new homes using any type of petroleum products will go into effect in favor of heat pumps that draw electricity from the grid.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
Commitment to heat pumps was a prime factor in taking down the Texas grid during the recent cold snap. Heat pumps don't work when the outdoor ambient drops below freezing. So they switch automatically to resistance coils, which draw far more current. Overloading the grid and taking it down.
Shutting down the ONLY viable option to fossil fuels, i.e. nuclear, is so monumentally stupid that I can't even. . . . . .
Hasta la vista Krauts
Maybe the Germans should learn to speak Russian,
because after this winter, Germany will probably kneel to Putin just to stay warm.
Conservatives think ahead, and make careful plans. Liberals do what feels good at the moment, consequences be damned.
This applies to the United States, to Germany...to wherever liberals are in power.
And Putin giggles because of Germany’s stupidoty.
Before saying such a thing Americans should look in the mirror... who is in charge here right now? Look at both houses of Congress, the Presidency, and our faux conservative Supreme Court. And this ongoing Covid nonsense! What a mess!
Probably exactly as planned from Mama Merkel, the communist youth leader in a role that was only given to committed true believers of the Soviet system.
Just for curiosity’s sake, from where will all the required electricity come from?
Catastrophe will befall the politicians who believe the people will allow them to get away with this.
https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/articles/keep-warm-this-winter-inverter-technology-for-any-climate
The Germans....so many of whom are brilliant individually are collectively some of the biggest morons on the planet.
They’ve always been that way.
One of their current fads is Gaia Worship. As always, they are so devoted to their completely irrational ideology that they’re prepared to march off a cliff because the dogma tells them to. Nothing short of freezing in the darkness for an extended period of time...and I mean EXTENDED....will make them even START to wise up.
P.S. My family is of German origin and I grew up with the language and I’ve lived there twice. I know these guys and can recognize their idiocy. Trust me.
American Leftists are wannabe Yurps. That’s been the case for a long time.
Mitsubishi has heat pumps that not only work down to negative 5F they have a COP above 1 that low as well. These same units will stay in primary mode down to negative 13F at which point the COP drops below one and they switch to secondary heating. This means that until negative 13F this heat pump is more efficient than gas or resistive electrics. It’s a function of physics no amount of political BS can.change the second law of thermodynamics heat pumps will always be more efficient than gas which is a first law combustion process ALWAYS. You cannot avoid the loss of energy from the HHV to LHV due to Carnot. Welcome to the 21st century but luddites gonna be luddites. Ground source heat pumps are the most efficient on the planet bar none as the ground world wide is an avg of 55 degrees below the frost line year round.
https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/articles/keep-warm-this-winter-inverter-technology-for-any-climate
The answer is: (drum roll...) Russian gas.
Clean, safe, reliable supplier. /S
They childishly think solar and wind.
The irony is that the German people have traditionally had the best technical minds in the world. I wonder if there are any technology giants in Germany screaming the warning “This will NOT work!!”
My German friends used to say they were happy with the relative stability of their government under the SPD and CDU, and now these same friends write to complain about energy prices.
A “smiley face” sun logo against atomic power plants is no answer to being held hostage to foreign-supplied energy. The French sell atopm-powered electricity to Germany, and the Russians sell natural gas. This for a country rich in coal.
Sad and funny at the same time.
Wait until Russia turns off their gas in response to the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent US Sanctions.
Its going to get cold in Germany. Really fast.
“Germans seem to have an uncanny ability to be led by the nose by fools and tyrants. And they never learn”
It’s in their DNA - seriously.
They love authority and following orders. They’re easily led.
Heat pumps don’t work when the outdoor ambient drops below freezing. So, they switch automatically to resistance coils, which draw far more current. Overloading the grid and taking it down.
The question I have is why heat pumps don’t work when ambient temps drop below freezing as you suggested. The ground below ten feet is usually always around 75 F. So, as long as you have electricity to keep the circulating pump going things should be OK. Of course, if electricity fails you may have problems. Here in Illinois, we have many heat pump installations, and they work just fine summer and winter. I appreciate if you can enlighten me.
Ironically through a heavy reliance on coal, much of it imported.
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