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https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbryce/2022/10/28/the-iron-law-of-electricity-strikes-again-germany-re-opens-five-lignite-fired-power-plants/ https://www.forb
by HyperSane 3y ago
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbryce/2022/10/28/the-iron-law-of-electricity-strikes-again-germany-re-opens-five-lignite-fired-power-plants/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbryce/2022/10/28/the-iron...
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany was reopening five power plants that burn lignite, a low-rank coal. Germany’s return to lignite demonstrates, yet again, the Iron Law of Electricity, which says that people, businesses, and governments will do whatever they have to do to get the electricity they need.
Indeed, Germany’s move back to lignite is chock-full of contradictions, including one that belongs in the “you can’t make this up” column.
The Iron Law of Electricity is so powerful that the utility RWE is dismantling the Keyenberg wind project in the western part of the country to, wait for it... make more room for the expansion of the Garzweiler mine. Lignite from Garzweiler fuels the Neurath C power plant, which is one of the power plants being brought back online. A spokesperson for RWE told the Guardian newspaper that “We realize this comes across as paradoxical.”
Yes, there are paradoxes aplenty. Germany’s need to keep the lights on explains why the government is willing to ignore the fact that burning lignite to produce electricity emits more carbon dioxide than any other form of power generation.
Furthermore, burning lignite contradicts Germany’s climate goals. Under the country’s much-vaunted Energiewende (German for “energy turnaround”) Germany has pledged to slash its total greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050. The cost of that pledge could total more than $500 billion by 2025 — and that figure only accounts for the investment needed to decarbonize the electricity sector. The result of all that spending is that residents of Germany are now paying some of the highest electricity prices in Europe.
- Retric 3y agoThe cost of “going green” is the delta between the cost of green power and the cost of providing electricity without going green. That’s nowhere close to 500B by 2025.
- HyperSane 3y agoGermany has some of the most expensive electricity in the world.
- Retric 3y agoWhich largely spiked due to high fossil fuel prices. Prematurely shutting down nuclear looks like a dumb decision, but Germany has been mismanaging their electric grid for decades.
- TheLoafOfBread 3y agoThey had one of the most expensive electricity before the war.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Retric 3y agoRetail prices were very high in Germany, but wholesale prices were quite reasonable. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1267541/germany-monthly-wholesale-electricity-price/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1267541/germany-monthly-... Part of this discrepancy was them paying off an extremely premature investment in PV solar in attempt to kick start domestic production. Back in 2009 they setup 39 euro cents/kWh feed in tariffs for solar. Those subsidies where quickly cut on new installations but as I understand it they are still paying it on those early installs. The good news is those will be expiring fairly soon and arguably those initial investments are paying dividends in current rock bottom prices for new installations.
- awaythrow98765 3y agoWhats even more stupider, burning coal emits more radioactivity into the atmosphere than all nuclear accidents ever have...
- cinntaile 3y agoYou'll have to properly frame your statement for it to make sense. Are you talking about one plant over its lifetime? How long is the lifetime? What kind of coal is burned in that plant? How big is the plant? Also we don't know about all the nuclear accidents, do you mean all known civilian nuclear power plant accidents?
- HyperSane 3y agoCoal contains between 1 to 10 ppm of uranium. Globally about 8 billion tonnes of coal is burned every year to generate electricity. Thus between 8 thousand and 80 thousand tonnes of Uranium is emitted into the atmosphere every year.
- Filligree 3y agoWhich… I’m not sure, but that might be more uranium than would be needed in the first place to run our entire civilisation on nuclear power? Certainly it’s in the ballpark.
- p_l 3y agoJust current reserves, with breeder fuel cycles, would allow us at least a century, long enough to start building in space...
- cinntaile 3y agoIt's not a a useful measure, since no one would collect uranium in this way but assuming someone would. Some napkin math... 27 tonnes per 1GW reactor/year is used and there are about 440 reactors so about 12kton.
- 3y ago
- CorrectHorseBat 3y ago>Germany’s need to keep the lights on explains why the government is willing to ignore the fact that burning lignite to produce electricity emits more carbon dioxide than any other form of power generation. And best of all, more radioactive waste as well
- canadianfella 3y ago[dead]