The German Climate Debacle

This is a short piece I need to get out just so I can put all my attention on the major post I'm working on.

Germany's shutdown of many of its nuclear plants has led quite directly and inevitably to increased burning of fossil fuels.  (Canadian Energy Issues pegged this.)  Contrary to the false claims of Chrisopher Arcus on ClimateCrocks, all German coal-fired generation has risen, both hard coal and lignite.  This isn't some right-wing claim, it comes straight from the Rocky Mountain Institute:



The Energiewende can only be described as schizophrenic:

• It is represented as "green", but policy decisions are driving consumption away from low-carbon gas and zero-carbon nuclear to the dirtiest fuel on earth, coal.
• It is represented as a "transition", but to date it's more of a return to the 1950's than anything forward-looking.
• Subconciously it might be an effort to reduce dependency on Russia, but if that was the case, why shut down nuclear plants which could be used to slash gas demand much further?

Then again, how can we expect sensibility from people who panic about tsunamis in the middle of Europe?  Sie sind wahnsinnig.

  ¶ 12/19/2013 08:48:00 AM