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There is absolutely no chance you can heat germany on solar in the middle of a cold night in winter. None. According to the analysis, the price of electricity

There is absolutely no chance you can heat germany on solar in the middle of a cold night in winter. None. According to the analysis, the price of electricity in Germany, adjusted for purchasing power, is 45-dollar cents (39-euro cents) per kilowatt-hour. This not only puts German electricity costs as the 15th highest of all the countries included, but it also means Germany has the third-highest electricity prices in the EU... The data included in the study refers to the second quarter of 2021, and so does not take into account the surge in prices consumers in Germany are currently facing. or look here: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Electricity_price_statistics https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

pgeorgi 5y ago
As mentioned in the other follow-up: Even using gas turbines + heat pumps would reduce the required amount of gas due to using environmental energy. And then there's wind (as mentioned: we just broke records. In winter. At night.), and water (to some minor degree). And theoretically a comeback of nuclear (won't happen). Or hydrogen storage. Or fusion, or whatever. The good thing about electricity is that it doesn't care where it comes from, and there are many different kinds of sources. On the other hand: Natural gas boilers require natural gas, and so far we don't have methods to synthesize it from electricity - or anything else - at scale. The main argument in their favor is that they're installed: a pretty important argument though.
- lazide 5y ago
  Peak production (broke a new record) != worst case production. When the consequence of not having enough production is people literally freezing to death, worse case production matters.
- ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  Germany is actually a world leader in making climate friendly biogas. https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WBA-Germany-4ppa4_.pdf https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/20... But yeah, big picture, gas is a poor choice for home heating, and should be phased out for health, cost and carbon reasons.
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Pretty much the same order of countries as this list of cigarette prices: https://www.statista.com/statistics/415034/cigarette-prices-across-europe/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/415034/cigarette-prices-... I wonder what secret tech Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and other nations at the bottom of both lists have that makes both electrical power and cigarettes so cheap to produce? You'd think their neighbours would ask them to install it for them in order to access cheap electricity and cigarettes.

pgeorgi 5y ago

As mentioned in the other follow-up: Even using gas turbines + heat pumps would reduce the required amount of gas due to using environmental energy. And then there's wind (as mentioned: we just broke records. In winter. At night.), and water (to some minor degree). And theoretically a comeback of nuclear (won't happen). Or hydrogen storage. Or fusion, or whatever. The good thing about electricity is that it doesn't care where it comes from, and there are many different kinds of sources. On the other hand: Natural gas boilers require natural gas, and so far we don't have methods to synthesize it from electricity - or anything else - at scale. The main argument in their favor is that they're installed: a pretty important argument though.

lazide 5y ago
Peak production (broke a new record) != worst case production. When the consequence of not having enough production is people literally freezing to death, worse case production matters.
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Germany is actually a world leader in making climate friendly biogas. https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WBA-Germany-4ppa4_.pdf https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/20... But yeah, big picture, gas is a poor choice for home heating, and should be phased out for health, cost and carbon reasons.

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

Pretty much the same order of countries as this list of cigarette prices: https://www.statista.com/statistics/415034/cigarette-prices-across-europe/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/415034/cigarette-prices-... I wonder what secret tech Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and other nations at the bottom of both lists have that makes both electrical power and cigarettes so cheap to produce? You'd think their neighbours would ask them to install it for them in order to access cheap electricity and cigarettes.