Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Greenpeace blames the German Merkel government for not being green enough.
21 Dec 2021, 14:21 Benjamin Wehrmann
Germany’s energy consumption rising, renewables share falling in 2021
Energy consumption in Germany has increased in 2021, as the economy recovered from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the country weathered a cold winter. At the same time, a year of depressed wind power production let the share of renewables in the country’s power mix shrink, while coal power made a strong comeback. The developments bode ill for the new German government’s plans to reduce energy use and boost renewables to record shares by 2030 – the same year it plans to end the use of coal. Energy industry representatives say the government’s plans are still feasible, but will require resolute and swift action to succeed.
The consumption of energy in Germany has increased in 2021 compared to the previous year, while the share of renewable energy sources in power production was in decline, figures released by energy market research group AGEB and by energy industry lobby association BDEW have shown. Energy consumption increased by 2.6 percent (12,193 petajoule) compared to 2020, when economic activity was severely depressed due to the coronavirus pandemic, AGEB said, adding that primary energy consumption in the country still ranked significantly below pre-crisis levels from 2019, as pandemic effects could still be felt in 2021 and supply chain interruptions further obstructed economic recovery.
Very cold weather at the beginning of the year also contributed to higher energy use and, according to AGEB, accounted for most of the increase. On the other hand, price hikes on energy markets and in the European emissions trading system (ETS) “visibly slowed down the growth-driven rise in primary energy consumption”, the researchers said.
…
Coal industry preparing phase-out despite increasing share in power system
In contrast to the government’s plans,coal power consumption increased markedly, with both hard coal and lignite use up by about 18 percent, whereas natural gas increased by only 4 percent. However, statistical effects played an important role in the year-on-year rise, meaning lignite use still was 5 percent lower than in 2019 and even 25 percent lower than 2018, according to coal industry association DEBRIV. However, even though lignite plants had made a “remarkable contribution” to Germany’s supply security this year and domestic supply with the fossil fuel would not be affected by price hikes like gas or oil, the increase in use in 2021 does not change the technology’s overall demise in Germany, DEBRIV head Thorsten Diercks said.
…
Andree Böhling of environmental action NGO Greenpeace called the jump in carbon emissions a “poisoned present” by the previous government of conservative Angela Merkel (CDU). Even if Scholz’s coalition is not to blame for the current situation, it will still have to come up with a response quickly, he argued. “Measures of an action programme must tackle the root cause of rising emissions, meaning substantially higher coal use and growing power consumption,” Böhling said, calling for a ceiling on coal power use in the electricity system and ending coal use by 2030.
Read more: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germanys-energy-consumption-rising-renewables-share-falling-2021
If even über green Germany cannot be bothered to maintain momentum for achieving net zero, the renewable revolution is well and truly broken.
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Will other countries learn from Germany’s mistakes? Don’t bet on it..
Germany Is Closing Half of Its Reactors at Worst Possible Time
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-21/germany-is-closing-half-of-its-reactors-at-worst-possible-time
And I saw a story this morning that Belgium will shut down three nuclear powerstations next year.
perhaps those nations are racing to see which can commit suicide first
They are replacing producing reactors with planned renewables… wise move!
Well, gosh! It looked good on paper.
Yes, yet another example of something that should work in theory not working in practice.
But as I said above…the Green Cult will never admit fault, has to be…someone else.
They always blame others because they are victims you know
paper cuts !
They should just plan them to be available sooner and plan for 30-40% more wind.
The solution is so obvious even a child (or griff) would see it.
Yes, I was betting on the UK to fumble, but then Belgium comes storming in to steal the glory, 6GW bang gone, brilliant!
…and they wonder why everybody takes the piss out of them.
Certainly not California with its 4.2 GW offshore wind farm plans:
An alternate to the proposed 4.2 GW offshore wind project underway.
4.2 GWs = roughly 680 6MW turbines or 252 17MW turbines
Miles offshore with expensive undersea power network
No thermal use for industry
Radar Interference a security threat
vs
21 Seaborg 200 MW CMSR power barges or 5 GW CMSR power barges
Float them into any sea or river port near the local grid
24-year return to shipyard for recycling
Thermal Industrial and Desalination use
The least impacting energy source on nature:
https://businessdevelopmentinternational.biz/seaborg-co/
Seaborg deep dive: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/deep-dive-on-floating-nuclear-reactors
Just wondering where those wind generators are. I live there and havnt seen them . We don’t have a continental shelf here
I wonder how secure those offshore wind turbines would be during an armed conflict. Seems like an enemy could use underwater submersibles to easily destroy them.
The state of Massachusetts certainly won’t- with its net zero by ’50 plan. If you read any MSM here, you will not ever see anything such difficulty as Germany is having. On the contrary, the most important paper, the Bah-stin Globe just had an article by Mickey Mann.
A gentle correction JZ…
it’s BAW-stun
Baw rhymes with awe
I know cause I was bonn theya
They also have $30/mcf gas prices while the national price is about $3.75. Bwahahahahaha!
They’re all in the Groupthink together with power shortages-
ROSS CLARK: What idle UK power stations for hire says about our policy (msn.com)
Greenpeace being anti nuclear power demonstrated they are not serious about global warming.
Tom, do you mean these stalwart eco-warriors are not volunteering to freeze in the dark for their beliefs? Of course there is no doubt they are “volunteering” you to freeze in the dark for their beliefs.
Greenpeace are against everything, including heterosexual conjugal relations. Think about it.
Did Greenpeace already demonstrate that they are serious about anything? Or simply “serious” (without complements)?
Coal energy is stored solar radiation. There for making electricity whenever you need it, like money in the bank. Unreliable ‘renewables’? Not so much….
No wind, no wind energy, independant of he windmill number – nothing more simple tham that.
Greenpeace didn’t force Merkel strong enough to blow on the mills, their mistake.
I do like to keep tabs on continental temperatures in places like Prague, Vienna, Katowice. Berlin is minus six C next Saturday
Minus 6? Maybe even minus 8 or minus 9.
Here we are right now:
In case you wouldn’t know / recall:
Alles klar, Löwenherz?
Why do we have to consider or print what Greenpeace thinks ?
Because it’s funny.
Exactly, humour is in short supply in the ever left leaning politics of the modern world, so we have to get our laughs where we can.
Happy hockey sticks and Happy Christmas everyone. 😉
“If even über green Germany cannot be bothered to maintain momentum for achieving net zero, the renewable revolution is well and truly broken.”
I truly desire the renewable revolution to be over and we work on energy systems that are better economically and environmentally. That would be impossible without reliable energy now. I believe the CAGW zealots and their handlers are not done with us though.
This Climate Fraud isn’t some organic spontaneous movement. The Globalists have invested all they’ve got in Press Power and Deep State Alliances. They’ve corrupted all of Science to get “here”. The Press was already theirs.
Europe looks to be folding…but To Win, the Globalists have to get past the American People…and after Covid, “the people’s” trust in “Experts” has worn out. When the real Climate $Expenses start rolling in, Americans will not pay it. $10/gallon Diesel Fuel will get you millions of 18 Wheelers clogging up every road within 50 miles of DC and Manhatten.
They invented a Fraud that no economy can afford…and the real costs haven’t even started to accumulate. ~100 Quads of generating capacity (USA alone) is 20,000 square miles of Solar Panels for Peak Demand. That ain’t cheap…or even possible.
So basically Germany will pay the price for net-zero AND not get net-zero.
They never will get net-zwro, as nobody else will get it.
Of course will get NetZero – No Net and Zilch.
Follow the money.
Never fear – the US to the rescue!!!
European Gas Drops 18% As US Sends LNG Flotilla
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/us-sends-fleet-lng-ships-fuel-starved-europe
Now is that a coincidence , or coluuuuusion?
The USA is usually a late arrival at the party. This time thanks to Trump they are late to the switch off fossil fuel supplies party, possibly late enough to save Europe from self destruction
https://youtu.be/MdWGp3HQVjU
LNG fotilla!
Some Party – “fraid voters were not invited, the party fee is too high!
sound commercial decision.
and one in the eye for Putim
One in 82 million eyes in Germany. I’m not sure you understand Germany.
Russia won’t bat an eye – China is buying gas.
This situation calls for a super climate czar to come to the rescue –
I’m thinking John Kerry wearing his underpants outside of his green tights and wielding a magic electric power wand.
12 volts.
That picture… what a blight on a beautiful pastoral landscape ruined forever
It’s going to be worse:
good one !
That’s really funny.
LMAO
At least it was the raptors this time
LOL!
And there was I thinking Santa used Amazon…
The coal is always burning somewhere.
Even from a coal seam in a hill in country NSW Australia and for decades past.
“At the same time, a year of depressed wind power production let the share of renewables in the country’s power mix shrink, while coal power made a strong comeback.”
Don’t these blighted greens get it? It’s all in their quote. A year of ‘depressed’ wind power (not dispatchable!!) required a fix. So they had to go to coal or do without power. Sheesh.
If it’s not too late, they could at least have reduced need for coal by keeping nuclear going. Is it that the greens hate nuke even more than coal? Backbone in government seems to be a commodity in perennial short supply. What do they think the greens can do to them?
“Don’t these blighted greens get it? It’s all in their quote. A year of ‘depressed’ wind power (not dispatchable!!) required a fix. So they had to go to coal or do without power. Sheesh.”
No, they don’t get it. They continue to forge ahead with their insane ideas. They have a lack of critical thinking.
Them: we’re going to do this thing
Us: it won’t work
Them: huh, it didn’t work.
Us: We told you
Them: Its your fault
Repeat as needed.
ummm?
Energiewende is hailed (‘heiled’) as a green success because of the decrease in carbon emissions ostensibly due the imposition of wind and solar as if those technologies have successfully replaced legacy technologies.
However the effect of that policy has been to reduce energy consumption generally due to the resultant overall dramatically increased cost.
In other words the purpose of renewables isn’t to replace legacy technologies so much, but to reduce energy consumption per se thereby reducing living standards.
I think there is a limit to how far that self-destructive trend will be tolerated.
“… the purpose of renewables isn’t to replace legacy technologies so much, but to reduce energy consumption …”
I believe Barack Obama told us this back in 2008:
There is only one way to deal with these environmentalist fools. With the advent of smart meters the solution is at hand. Every energy customer must commit to their preferred power source. If you are like me I would choose all of the above, in other words I will accept energy from any source and I expect to be charged for the cheapest available source. If you are a fool and only believe in renewables then your meter will be adjusted to only deliver the percentage of power produced and added to the grid by renewables. By renewables I mean wind and solar not hydro, waste or biomass. Waste and biomass add CO2 and any environmentalist worth his salt is against new dams. The only way they can receive more power is to sign up for fossil fuel and or nuclear. Those records should be public so that any of us can see for ourselves who is walking the walk and who is just talking the talk.
Of course they are . If nothing else the Germans have always been practical
What is basically being done in Europe, the USA and other developed nations is a giant lab experiment. Transitioning developed nations from reliable base load fossil fuel and nuclear power plants to solar panels and wind turbines is something that has never been done before to my knowledge.
In my eyes, the decision to do this must have been done without a cold, hard objective look at the physics, the economics and the engineering involved. The people of Europe have been turned into lab rats, and they are now paying for this huge experiment with higher energy rates and the real risk of serious economic decline.
Shutting down their nuclear plants while clinging to their belief in the climate scare narrative makes absolutely no sense. To my knowledge, Europe doesn’t get tsunamis (are their nukes even in earthquake zones?). Europe has a history of following and listening to the wrong people and not realizing it until a great deal of damage is done. Why they keep doing that is beyond me.
What might happen here in the USA if Europe goes into serious decline is probably difficult to say for sure. But not paying attention to it and its consequences is not a smart thing to do.
To put it bluntly, I for one have no interest in being a lab rat.
The decisions were purely political. Engineers expressed concern about instability that weather dependent generators would cause but had no say in the matter.
The academics who did the analysis think power comes from a wall socket. That is as far back as they have ever been in a power grid. They worked on average capacity factors with a good dusting from the diversity fairy to explain how it would work.
Most engineers now realise it is a hopeless task but it has created thousands of new jobs for them with good pay and is the policy that keeps giving for engineers. WDGs are so materials intensive that they will eventually consume all human endeavour just to survive. Basically humans will exist solely for the purpose of extracting energy from the weather to keep economies going. My bet is that governments and their policies will change before that happens.
Rick:
I suppose I should have expected that the wind and solar craze was just politics more than anything else. The academics probably have a lot more political clout with politicians that the sane and level-headed engineers have ever had.
That the renewables craze has rewarded engineers with those good-paying jobs probably will keep them quiet lest the painful truth becomes widely known. And few probably have the intestinal fortitude to speak up against this for fear of being demonized by the environmental movement.
Didn’t work out too well in the last 600 years for grinding flour or for powering fleets of boats.
The sun was used to dry fruit and veg,
Why anyone would want to go back to the same failed technologies expecting a different result beats me!
Are we going to go back to salting stuff to preserve it next, instead of refrigators?
“The people of Europe have been turned into lab rats, and they are now paying for this huge experiment with higher energy rates and the real risk of serious economic decline.”
And the risk of freezing to death.
Yes, our leaders are carrying out a huge experiment on people. What’s so bad is it is obvious this experiment is failing, yet the leaders continue down this path.
I guess people are going to have to start marching in the streets before the idiot politicians pay attention.
There is a cold spot in Eastern Siberia which has posted -64 F today. The previous low temps were running around -55 F yesterday and over the last several weeks. That is a substantial drop in temps from one day to the next. … https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-203.70,64.12,774/loc=142.473,63.428
But I was reliably informed that the next 1/2 degree rise in temperature will kill us all
Where is your problem, goldminor?
-64F that’s -53 °C.
Nothing unusual at all in Eastern Siberia!
Look e.g. at the Werchoyansk station in the raw raw GHCN daily data:
RSM00024266 63-125 2002 12 28 -57.1 (°C)
RSM00024266 63-125 2002 12 29 -57.1
RSM00024266 63-125 2002 12 27 -56.4
RSM00024266 63-125 2010 12 24 -56.4
RSM00024266 63-125 2002 12 16 -56.2
RSM00024266 63-125 2002 12 26 -55.9
RSM00024266 63-125 2010 12 23 -55.9
RSM00024266 63-125 2008 12 16 -55.8
RSM00024266 63-125 2008 12 23 -55.5
RSM00024266 63-125 2002 12 21 -55.3
Here is, as an example, December 2010 (other graphs not available)
Look at Oymjakon, Yurty, etc etc.
Eastern Siberia is the coldest place on Earth after Antarctica. It is so cold there during the winter that the lower troposphere’s absolute temperature, measured by UAH, is warmer than the surface!
Sorry for the mistake: I showed Dec 2010’s TMAX temps 🙁
Here are the TMIN’s:
Too bad windmills can’t be burned to generate electricity. Or can they?
It is likely onshore turbines can be scrapped economically. That means the materials value is more than the cost of materialising that value.
Fixed offshore turbines would probably not have economic scrap value. Most will just rust away and form offshore reefs. That could bring some economic value. Some will likely be too risky to board to remove the lubricants so their demise will be messy.
Floating turbines would likely be economic to scrap. They may not survive the trip to India though unless they had a bit of hull life left.
As far as I know, no one has worked out how to recycle the composite blades. They do not make good fertiliser.
Rotor blades proudly say since a few years: “YES we CAN!”.
Because, a German company has developed a technique to crush and mix composite (glass fiber reinforced plastic) rotor blades with other components, producing a fuel that can be used in cement factories.
Oh Noes, I’m ashamed. But the shareholders of the windmill and cement factories sure aren’t 🙁
Shoot, ready, aim always misses the target.
It would Benice to see Greenpeace or whoever actually create a self-sustaining community based on solar, wind and electric cars and trucks, or bicycles or whatever. No importing materials that are diesel transported, or based on plastics…
Is there any alternative for Deutschland?
Well, there’s the Alternative für Deutschland. I tried to look it up on the internet. I used the Brave browser which somebody had recommended recently on WUWT. All it would give me were links to articles by organisations which don’t like the AfD. So I did a search on Google, and that put a link to the party’s website high up on its links. Maybe Brave is not better than Google. I also found a link to the party’s website in the Wikipedia article.
The British are solidly against raising taxes to combat the non-existent Climate Crisis.
Americans tell pollsters that ~$100 a year is the limit they are willing to spend on the non-problem. We’ve eclipsed that number already… with Biden’s ill advised pressure against investment in oil reserves and closing pipelines…causing higher gasoline prices.
Imagine the response when “the people” start getting bills for $12k to $20k for Totally Electrifying their formerly gas heated houses.
Even if Democrats steal all the elections going forward…that ain’t going to happen.