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This stands in stark contrast to Germany's reputation and perception that it is a leader in renewable energy. Their energy policy as a whole should be looked a
by 99_00 6y ago
This stands in stark contrast to Germany's reputation and perception that it is a leader in renewable energy.
Their energy policy as a whole should be looked at because they are held up as an example for adopting solar and wind. But looking at German's electricity production and ignoring natural gas for things other than electricity gives a skewed picture.
Would Germany need natural gas if they committed to nuclear power and shifted to electrical heating?
>Gas covered around a quarter of Germany's primary energy use in 2019,
>Currently, most of the gas is used in the industrial sector (e.g. for power and heat supply, or in chemical processes), followed by private households (mostly heating), public power and heating supply, manufacturing and trade.
https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-dependence-imported-fossil-fuels#:~:text=Germany%20%2D%20GAS,imports%2C%20according%20to%20the%20BGR https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-dependen....
- philipkglass 6y agoAccording to the article you linked, German natural gas use barely changed between 2008 and 2018. (Chart titled "Import dependency by primary energy source 2008 and 2018 for Germany.") The 2008-2018 deltas were: - Natural gas +1 - Oil -15 - Hard coal -17 - Lignite -3 - Nuclear -27 - Renewables +23 Maybe you're saying that Germany could have reduced natural gas use too if they'd invested in nuclear instead of renewables? Possibly, but France started building Flamanville 3 at the end of 2007 and it's not going to enter commercial operation until after 2022 [1]. If Germany had started building new reactors 10 years ago it's possible they would still be waiting for the money invested to generate any new energy, just like France. [1] https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/EDF-warns-of-added-costs-of-Flamanville-EPR-weld-r https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/EDF-warns-of-added-c...
- 99_00 6y agoThe German government announced its intention to phase out nuclear power 20 years ago. What is the plan to phase out natural gas use?
- philipkglass 6y agoAs far as I know there is no explicit German gas phase-out plan the way there now is for coal [1] and the way there was for nuclear reactors. I think that it was a bad idea for Germany to shut working reactors prematurely. I also think that it was unavoidable for German leadership, given how unpopular nuclear power is with German voters. 81% of polled Germans agreed with the nuclear phase-out as of 2015 [2]. There's a gas phase-out implicit in Germany's 2050 net zero target, but that's not very strong. Other EU members are also theoretically committed to net zero by 2050. I don't know if any of them have committed to earlier dates for eliminating gas specifically. [1] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/spelling-out-coal-phase-out-germanys-exit-law-draft https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/spelling-out-coal... [2] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/atomausstieg/4-jahre-nach-fukushima-grosse-mehrheit-fuer-energiewende-40148648.bild.html https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...