Germany’s economy is viewed as the most successful major economy in the world today and the key bedrock for European recovery. While many conservative leaders in the United States are calling on the tearing up of environmental protections to help our economy, Germany has shown the fallacy of that claim. The Germans continue to set new records on environmental protection. This week the German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour — literally half of the energy used through the key midday hours in the country.
That is the equivalent to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity without any radioactive waste left over. The Germans are getting rid of all nuclear plants after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. Instead, the entire country will be using greater renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and bio-mass.
This is not some tiny country with a mainly tourism economy but one of the greatest industrial nations on Earth. It vividly demonstrates how far we have fallen back in the leadership on environmental issues and technology. As we return to an oil and coal emphasis on energy, the Germans are expanding their control over this industry and reducing the health costs of pollution for their population. It is the very definition of leadership and vision that is so lacking in our own country.
To our German friends, we say gut durchgebraten and danke danke?
Source: Inside
“[…] So even with solar power, German electricity is still expensive. […]”
Not quite sure I understand the “even.”
Roughly 45% of the German price of electricity are taxes of various kinds. And these taxes are levied on electricity and fossil fuels *explicitly* to make them expensive and thereby stimulate energy saving.
And of course to make renewable energy competitive in the first place.
High energy prices are a deliberate policy choice, not a bug or a failing.
“all fulltime workers in germany get four weeks paid vacation per year […] when you don’t allow other countries to dump their goods into your country. (coughchinacough)”
Germany has relatively few protectionist measures.
The thing is that according to German philosophy 24 guaranteed working days vacation help to keep productivity high.
And high productivity (education, concentration on high tech, etc) is where the money for these vacation days comes from, not import barriers for Chinese products.
all fulltime workers in germany get four weeks paid vacation per year. amazing what you can do when you don’t allow other countries to dump their goods into your country. (coughchinacough)
German and Japan quit on nuclear power plants. The US?
Fairly long article by Karl Grossman
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/28/meltdown-at-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission/
Excerpt:
The NRC was created in 1974 when Congress abolished the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission after deciding that the AEC’s dual missions of promoting and at the same time regulating nuclear power were deemed a conflict of interest. The AEC was replaced by the NRC which was to regulate nuclear power, and a Department of Energy was later formed to advocate for it.
However, the same extreme pro-nuclear culture of the AEC continued on at the NRC. It has partnered with the DOE in promoting nuclear power.
Indeed, neither the AEC, in its more than 25 years, nor the NRC, in its nearly 30 years, ever denied an application for a construction or operating license for a nuclear power plant anywhere, anytime in the United States.
The NRC is a rubberstamp for the nuclear industry. “NRC stands for Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission,” says Kevin Kamps of the organization Beyond Nuclear.
And it isn’t that Jaczko opposed nuclear power. “Greg is not anti-nuclear, but he’s pro-nuclear in a smart and considered way,” says Christopher Paine, director of the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Since the Fukushima accident began last March 11, [2011] Jaczko, who has a Ph.D. in physics, has called on the NRC to recognize and incorporate in its rules and actions, the gravity of that catastrophe. As he declared as his four fellow NRC members APPROVED THE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS IN GEORGIA in February [2012]—the first OK for new nuclear plants in the U.S. in years:
“I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima had never happened.”
[emphasis added]
another excerpt:
Meanwhile, the NRC has been busy extending the operating licenses of existing plants although nuclear plants were never seen as running for more than 40 years because of radioactivity embrittling the metal parts and otherwise causing problems affecting safety. Nevertheless, the NRC has now extended the licenses of 73 of the 104 nuclear plants in the U.S. to 60 years. And next Thursday, June 7, at its headquarters, the NRC is holding a meeting with DOE and the industry’s Electric Power Research Institute on extending licenses to 80 years. Consider the reliability of an 80-year old car.
Bron 1, May 28, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Cost of electricity in Germany [in US cents] = 36.48
Cost of electricity in the US [in US cents] = 11.2
The US is one of the cheapest producers of electricity in the world.
So even with solar power, German electricity is still expensive.
———————–
I think the Germans factor in clean up costs. I know they do for some products. We don’t for anything. Consider the cost of our electricity if we factor in the cost of cleaning up the coal mines or strip mines or the nuclear waste.
Don & Tony, Windstalks?
http://news.discovery.com/tech/wind-power-without-the-blades.html
Tony C., I can’t find the exact wind turbine design I was think of, but it’s along these lines: http://www.gizmag.com/optimizing-wind-turbine-placement/19217/
Suffice to say that the current predominent design is problematical, and the right incentives could produce a far better design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing#Global_electricity_price_comparison
Cost of electricity in Germany [in US cents] = 36.48
Cost of electricity in the US [in US cents] = 11.2
The US is one of the cheapest producers of electricity in the world.
So even with solar power, German electricity is still expensive.
@Shano, DonS: If you are talking about the vertical axis “egg beater” type of wind generator, it is my understanding they are half as efficient as the three-blade horizontal axis standard windmills, and due to the physics of the design, require more maintenance due to wear-and-tear, due to centrifugal forces the bending stresses are focused in the middle of the blades, where they are weakest; while in the standard design, the bending stresses are focused on the root of the blades, where they are strongest.
I am not sure if an initial cost or manufacturing difference makes these drawbacks worth suffering. That is possible. But the egg-beaters are not an engineering advance, they are a step backward.
JohnMacKay: “The problem with nuclear Energy as a source for power has been pointed out rather painfully by the failure of the Fukushimi plant.”
***
And Chernobyl. Last night I watched “The Battle of Chernobyl” (listed on YouTube in some titles as “True Battle of Chernobyl”) a 90 minute production from 2005 and it has lost none of its impact over the last 6 years. The first 60-70 minutes are riveting but the last 20 or so minutes are enraging; all politics and lies and concealment by both the Soviet Union and the UN/West of the true effects of the disaster right up to the day the last frames of the documentary was shot.
The difference between that response and Fukushima and even the BP disaster in the Gulf is … none. Some of the specific parallels are, or should be, criminal . It is amazing.
That we are talking now about a renewed use of nuclear power generation is foolish beyond words. That we now have a nuclear industry using facilities well past their safe lifespan (Fairewinds.com is a good site for nuclear news) is frightening. I have the sick feeling that sometime in the future a different poster will write on a different blawg: “The problem with nuclear Energy as a source for power had been pointed out rather painfully by the failure of the Chernobyl, Fukushima, *Some Aged French*, and *Some Aged American* plants.”
While reading the posting on Detroit I thought that some of the dead cities we have should be turned into experimental communities, hobbit houses and passive solar homes on lots big enough to raise some food and the odd chicken on, every roof a green space and every multi-story building with garden terraces that would put Babylon to shame. All being fed supplemental energy by blocks-large solar power collectors. LOL, but I always thought SimCity missed the boat by not having a version for the counter culture and hippies 🙂
In kind of related news the U.S. slapped a 31% increase on Chinese solar panels after already increasing tariffs on the Chinese made towers for wind turbines. I don’t know if this is a bargaining chip (since the decisions are up for appeal) or if it’s A. a subsidy for dirty power in America or B. a spur to increase our own production or C. something else entirely that I’m not seeing. It could sure put a crimp in a homeowners plans to get off the grid as much as possible though if it stands.
“U.S. Slaps High Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/business/energy-environment/us-slaps-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-panels.html?pagewanted=all
@DonS: Tidal, at least, should be a no-brainer, it is no different than engineering a circular dam. The moon drags water in; close gates to dam it in at high tide, and drain it out through turbines at low tide. Repeat.
@Blouise: In New Mexico in particular, a big advantage of solar is that it produces the most when it is needed the most; for air conditioning. Temps over 110, dry or not, are dangerous.
In New Mexico that can might mean no battery bank or very little, because for a rooftop array 100% of production is used immediately; the A/C has to be on basically sunup to sundown, so not much is left to be stored (unless you have a larger array in the backyard).
shano, you’re right wind cylinders seem to have significant design advantages over windmill style turbines, not the least including less potential danger of catastrophic failure, and less potential destruction of wildlife. But this is of course not the design that the industry is tooled up to produce, and we know the institutional resistance to such massive design shifts. Additionally, wind turbines have very significant design and economic downsides. Tidal and wave energy do seem to hold some promise.
Tony C to bettykath,
That was a very interesting post at 11:20 am. I forwarded it to a friend who is planning a small vacation home in New Mexico.
New wind design is exciting. Not windmills, but more like wind cylinders. Wave turbines, geo thermal, hydro, solar mirrors, and more could come on line. Solar roofing materials, where your whole roof, even the paint, window panes and curtains in your home, could be generating electricity.
21st Century nano technology opened up all sorts of new materials…
Wind turbines and solar are our best hope for the near future. Safe and clean, especially when compared to Nuclear power and coal.
Nuclear power never gets off the government teat. NEVER.
That is the best argument against it. It is not sustainable, wrecks the environment from the mining stage onward. Just say no. Even Einstein thought it was a stupid use of nuclear power…
The problem with nuclear Energy as a source for power has been pointed out rather painfully by the failure of the Fukushimi plant. Virtually all of the existing Nuclear Power sites have to store spent fuel rods on site. These have to be cooled by pumping water through a heat exchanger to cool the water surrounding the spent fuel. And this has to be done virtually forever, or at least ten thousand years. The upkeep on such a system would beany times the power the plant could generate in it’s active life span of 40-50 years. And many of these sites may be underwater due to rising sea levels or under a glacier in ten thousand years. That is an enormous time span for mankind. Ten thousand years ago we were living in caves and trying to train goats. Who knows what will happen in the next ten thousand years. This is why nuclear energy will always be energy negative. Every intelligent nation, including Japan is planning to phase out nuclear power.