6 ms·

German energy policies are insane. Shutting down nuclear energy without replacing source. Already planning shut down of coal plants, also without any plans for

German energy policies are insane. Shutting down nuclear energy without replacing source. Already planning shut down of coal plants, also without any plans for replacement. And with Green Party in power it can only become worse. But we shouldn’t worry as long as we can import expensive dirty energy from other countries and complain it’s them and not us not doing enough to stop global warning.

outworlder 5y ago
> “From a pure emissions perspective, it was always a questionable idea to shut down German nuclear before the plants have reached the end of their lifetime,” That's very questionable. Unless they have audited and found uncorrectable design flaws, it really doesn't make sense. A lot of the push seems to have come after Fukushima - an entirely different design, in a different country, with different regulation constraints(some of which were actually violated) and in a region subject to severe natural disasters. It's not like the risk to German plants suddenly increased after that event.
riedel 5y ago
The insane part is only that not enough is done to boost energy distribution from renewables. So many subventions have been dumped into nuclear and the cost for disposal, it makes sense to move out beyond safety concerns. About the time: to there could have been better times but there was a political momentum and I think a majority of German are in support of the transition.
- tut-urut-utut 5y ago
  > but there was a political momentum and I think a majority of German are in support of the transition. Majority of German media outlets are in support for transition. German private households already pay one of the most expensive electricity in the world. With prices going even more up, I'm not so sure many would be happy to pay even more.
GravitasFailure 5y ago
Or import ridiculous amounts of nuclear power from France.
- DavidKarlas 5y ago
  People keep saying that but looking at https://app.electricitymap.org/zone/FR https://app.electricitymap.org/zone/FR it seems reverse... That is probably happening in summer at nights...
  - GravitasFailure 5y ago
    Oh, interesting. I wonder if Germany is more reliant on France for providing a baseload when renewables dip while France relies on Germany for peaking and supplementing daytime loads. Thanks for the website. It'll definitely come in handy. Edit: With Germany shutting down their nukes, I'm curious if them being a net exporter remains true.
    - Krasnol 5y ago
      Nuclear is only 12% of the whole mix in Germany.
      - GravitasFailure 5y ago
        In 2020 Germany exported 18TWh of energy and produced about 61TWh of nuclear. How much renewable capacity has been added in the past year and how much capacity is being taken off line?
        Krasnol 5y ago
        How much can you narrow it down to derail the topic even more? Yes, they didn't do much last year. This is because the last Government didn't care or rather even sabotaged the Energiewende but last year wasn't representative for the whole programme. Also, the new Government will push where the last one slept. Everybody who's even remotely interested in Germany knows that. Didn't you?
lb1lf 5y ago
-Well, in fairness you do import clean hydro from Norway, with foreseeable consequences for our utility bills.

outworlder 5y ago

> “From a pure emissions perspective, it was always a questionable idea to shut down German nuclear before the plants have reached the end of their lifetime,” That's very questionable. Unless they have audited and found uncorrectable design flaws, it really doesn't make sense. A lot of the push seems to have come after Fukushima - an entirely different design, in a different country, with different regulation constraints(some of which were actually violated) and in a region subject to severe natural disasters. It's not like the risk to German plants suddenly increased after that event.

riedel 5y ago

The insane part is only that not enough is done to boost energy distribution from renewables. So many subventions have been dumped into nuclear and the cost for disposal, it makes sense to move out beyond safety concerns. About the time: to there could have been better times but there was a political momentum and I think a majority of German are in support of the transition.

tut-urut-utut 5y ago
> but there was a political momentum and I think a majority of German are in support of the transition. Majority of German media outlets are in support for transition. German private households already pay one of the most expensive electricity in the world. With prices going even more up, I'm not so sure many would be happy to pay even more.

GravitasFailure 5y ago

Or import ridiculous amounts of nuclear power from France.

DavidKarlas 5y ago
People keep saying that but looking at https://app.electricitymap.org/zone/FR https://app.electricitymap.org/zone/FR it seems reverse... That is probably happening in summer at nights...
- GravitasFailure 5y ago
  Oh, interesting. I wonder if Germany is more reliant on France for providing a baseload when renewables dip while France relies on Germany for peaking and supplementing daytime loads. Thanks for the website. It'll definitely come in handy. Edit: With Germany shutting down their nukes, I'm curious if them being a net exporter remains true.
  - Krasnol 5y ago
    Nuclear is only 12% of the whole mix in Germany.
    - GravitasFailure 5y ago
      In 2020 Germany exported 18TWh of energy and produced about 61TWh of nuclear. How much renewable capacity has been added in the past year and how much capacity is being taken off line?
      - Krasnol 5y ago
        How much can you narrow it down to derail the topic even more? Yes, they didn't do much last year. This is because the last Government didn't care or rather even sabotaged the Energiewende but last year wasn't representative for the whole programme. Also, the new Government will push where the last one slept. Everybody who's even remotely interested in Germany knows that. Didn't you?

lb1lf 5y ago

-Well, in fairness you do import clean hydro from Norway, with foreseeable consequences for our utility bills.