3 ms·

So why did Germany go with gas and coal?

Tomte 8y ago
Germany has always had a lot of coal. It's not like Germany just started building a lot of coal plants, to replace the closed nuclear plants.
mschuster91 8y ago
Our coal infrastructure is on the way to be phased out, it won't be around for long-term any more - the Kohlekommission proposed 2035-2038 for the final shutdown, with 12.5 GW of 42.6 GW capacity going offline until 2022 (per https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-01/kohlekommission-kohleausstieg-bundesregierung-plan-kraftwerke-braunkohle https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-01/kohlekommission-kohle...). What's left will be gas and renewables.
- bboygravity 8y ago
  It is planned to be phased out. Just like nuclear. That means that within 15 years Germany will have to replace roughly 70 % of its constant energy sources (nuclear and coals) by the only scalable constant energy source left: gas. Thereby becoming completely reliant on gas from Russia. Creating a massive geopolicital risk that didn't exist previously. http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Germany-Electricity-Generation.png http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/201... I'll believe it when I see it. Also. What problem exactly is that supposed to solve? I thought the whole energiewende stunt was about decreasing CO2 emissions. I'm not seeing this.
  - imtringued 8y ago
    >by the only scalable constant energy source left: gas. What makes you think coal and nuclear are scalable? Gas has been the only option from the start and simply switching from coal to gas already results in a 50-60% CO2 reduction.
  - realityking 8y ago
    > Thereby becoming completely reliant on gas from Russia. While currently most imports are from Russia,there‘s an effort to start building LNG terminals to be able to import from the US. https://www.reuters.com/article/germany-lng/update-1-germany-set-to-have-at-least-2-lng-terminals-minister-idUSL5N2072W1 https://www.reuters.com/article/germany-lng/update-1-germany... Part of this is appeasement to the US but it is a good backup to have.

Germany has always had a lot of coal. It's not like Germany just started building a lot of coal plants, to replace the closed nuclear plants.

mschuster91 8y ago

Our coal infrastructure is on the way to be phased out, it won't be around for long-term any more - the Kohlekommission proposed 2035-2038 for the final shutdown, with 12.5 GW of 42.6 GW capacity going offline until 2022 (per https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-01/kohlekommission-kohleausstieg-bundesregierung-plan-kraftwerke-braunkohle https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-01/kohlekommission-kohle...). What's left will be gas and renewables.

bboygravity 8y ago
It is planned to be phased out. Just like nuclear. That means that within 15 years Germany will have to replace roughly 70 % of its constant energy sources (nuclear and coals) by the only scalable constant energy source left: gas. Thereby becoming completely reliant on gas from Russia. Creating a massive geopolicital risk that didn't exist previously. http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Germany-Electricity-Generation.png http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/201... I'll believe it when I see it. Also. What problem exactly is that supposed to solve? I thought the whole energiewende stunt was about decreasing CO2 emissions. I'm not seeing this.
- imtringued 8y ago
  >by the only scalable constant energy source left: gas. What makes you think coal and nuclear are scalable? Gas has been the only option from the start and simply switching from coal to gas already results in a 50-60% CO2 reduction.
- realityking 8y ago
  > Thereby becoming completely reliant on gas from Russia. While currently most imports are from Russia,there‘s an effort to start building LNG terminals to be able to import from the US. https://www.reuters.com/article/germany-lng/update-1-germany-set-to-have-at-least-2-lng-terminals-minister-idUSL5N2072W1 https://www.reuters.com/article/germany-lng/update-1-germany... Part of this is appeasement to the US but it is a good backup to have.