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> Nobody is going to invest in building a new nuclear power plant that may or may not enter operation in 15-20 years. No where in my post did I say anything ab

> Nobody is going to invest in building a new nuclear power plant that may or may not enter operation in 15-20 years. No where in my post did I say anything about new plants. Simply keep the current ones going until (a) coal/gas is retired, (b) enough renewables are built to then start retiring current nuclear plants. > Short answer: No. Germany mostly relies on gas for heating, not for electricity. How cold does Germany get? Some heat pumps can work down to -20C: * https://www.mitsubishielectric.ca/en/hvac/professionals/fs-series https://www.mitsubishielectric.ca/en/hvac/professionals/fs-s... * https://www.fujitsugeneral.com/us/residential/technology/xlth-low-temp-heating.html https://www.fujitsugeneral.com/us/residential/technology/xlt... (I'm Canadian, so there's cold and then there's "cold".)

b3orn 5y ago
Even the old plants would require investment for modernisation. Winters can get cold depending on the area, but probably warmer on average than Canada. There are currently around 30 million households (around 75%) heating with either gas (50%) or oil (25%). Don't get me wrong, they will all eventually have to switch to some other heating method, most likely to heat pumps, but that will take a few years to maybe a decade.