Knee jerk energy policy

They will succeed with this even faster than the politicians schedule.
“Nord Stream is a natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea. In the last quarter of 2011, Line 1 of the twin pipeline system will begin contributing to the energy security of the European Union, helping it to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals. When fully operational in the last quarter of 2012, the two lines will supply 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas a year to the EU for at least 50 years”
http://www.nord-stream.com

“The various studies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that renewables could deliver, basically, global electricity by 2050,” he said.
“Germany is going to be ahead of the game on that and it is going to make a lot of money, so the message to Germany’s industrial competitors is that you can base your energy policy not on nuclear, not on coal, but on renewables.”
This will be interesting to watch unfold. Almost one quarter of Germany’s electricity is from nuclear. I suppose they could rely on other countries through the grid. To be a net exporter of electricity in the EU is going to a lucrative venture.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/29/carbon-emissions-nuclearpower
Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.
Another factor that suggests emissions will continue their climb is the crisis in the nuclear power industry. Following the tsunami damage at Fukushima, Japan and Germany have called a halt to their reactor programmes, and other countries are reconsidering nuclear power.

Excuse me if I interrupt this little German-bashing, but (although a proud Englander myself) we have come to admire and respect German engineering and excellence. Don’t any of you want to stop and take a thought that way before 2022 we would have made solar panels much cheaper, that geothermal could make an enormous impact, that nuclear fusion would by then have finally been cracked? Personally I’ll trust that the Germans have made the right decision. Reliance on a potentially-dangerous form of generating electricity is the road to madness. The only thing that’s annoying about this news is that it will raise global energy prices.
Reading many of the comments here I cannot help think that I’ve stumbled upon a pro-nuclear forum. The cost of nuclear waste disposal is staggering, while the thought of an accident horrifying. And that’s without the question of terroist attack. Nuclear power is just too expensive and too (potentially) dangerous. I’m staggered that many of you cannot see this. Germany has.

Idiots, they will be freezing in the dark in 20 years.

i have a friend who work in the energy industry, in switzerland
the swiss government has advised parliament to give up nukes, but the decision will be discussed in the parliament, and closure dates are so far away in time that all this is almost meaningless. just as footnote, the government is formed by 4 females and 3 males. this was saluted as a sign of modernity and liberalism and the usual BS, and is funny to see how the 4 women voted against nukes and 3 men for. things will be different in the parliament, however i dont trust people who on average dont have to earn their living and live parasiting on others. of course the media is all for giving up nukes. but i digress.
my friend said that the germans will merely start burning gas and coal to replace nuclear, and that they are already using old coal burning powerplants. the germans have the power to tell the EU to shove it and act acordingly. of course dont expect the media to report that, they will all chant the great advantages of renewables.
at any rate, and despite the goverment denying it, look for further increases of energy costs in germany. the germans already pay 3 (or 5, cant remember now) cents of euro per kwh in order to subsidize renewables. which is a lot of money, and is going to increase. in switzerland we pay a lot less, something like 30 cents if i remember well.
in switzerland now things look even funnier. swiss government is pushing hard and giving subsidies to convince people to convert oil and gas heating to heat pumps, and at the same time undermines the power generation capability of the country (swiss generate over 40% of energy from nukes) , while also germans switch off nuclear, and the french are already selling abroad all their excess capacity, and if soemthing goes offline they will shut down supply, with inevitable blackouts. italy is heavily dependent from the french for energy supply because generating capacity is already well below 100% and most energy is generated with gas powered CCGT
so the general outlook of european energy scene is dramatic, still politicians go parading their idiotic green projects which will destroy european industry.
the german move is expecially baffling considering germany is a bit manufacturing economy. but what to expect from people who live out or parasitism, and who will never have to work to pay their energy bill?

Well, the story is somewhat longer. In 2000 the German government (then a coallition of social-democrats and greens) made an agreement with the nuclear energy suppliers to shut down the reactors by 2020-2025. In 2010 the German government (a coallition of conservatives and liberals) reversed the agreement and talked about letting the reactors run some 10-15 years longer (but still not building any new reactors). Now the same government just changed back to shutting down by 2022.
Right now 13 out of 17 reactors are shut down and we have no brown- or blackouts. 8 of them will probably not be turned on again, because they are supposedly too old and 5 are down due to maintenance. We are currently importing the equivalent of just 1 reactor (I guess it’s from nuclear reactors in France 🙂 ).
Yes, there are some new coal and gas power plants planned but some greenies are always opposing them too, so I don’t know how many of them will actually be built.
As for prices, gasoline is currently _down_ to some US$ 8.20 – 8.50 per gallon. And last year’s electricity bill was some US$ 0.30 per kWh.
So, we already are living all your tax-nightmares and still are thriving. I just wonder for how long.

This is most excellent news for the Russian natural gas industry. Putin will be glad.

It would be interesting to see what Germany’s energy mix is in the year 2022. My guess is they will increase the use of imported French nuclear energy and / or increase their use of fossil fuels. This should make the greens’ blood run red, just like a watermelon.

If Germany does fail, who is going to pay for Spain’s failed ‘green power industry’?

Switzerland decided last week (before Germany) to get out of nuclear power plant by 2034.
Switzerland still have more than 20 years to find energetic alternative solutions, but Germany … it has only 10 years … good luck !
European governments are competing in different way to kill faster europe !
After Europe yesterday and America today, Asia is and will be for sure the economical driver of the world. Asia doesn’t take care about CO2 or other real pollution.