GERMANY’S NUKE MOVE & ITS NEW NEW ENERGY CHAMPION

Germany's Unlikely Champion of a Radical Green Energy Path
Christian Schwagerl, May 12, 2011 (Yale Environment 360/Matter Network via Reuters)

"…German Chancellor Angela Merkel is anything but a left-wing greenie…[Her] top priority is job creation and economic growth…[But, convinced that nuclear power would never again be a viable option for her country, she has embarked on the world's most ambitious plan to power an industrial economy on renewable sources of energy. If she succeeds], she will become the first leader to transform an industrialized nation from nuclear and fossil fuel energy to renewable power.

"In mid-March, Merkel stunned the German public and other governments by announcing an accelerated phasing out of all 17 German nuclear reactors…[and] now says she wants to slash the use of coal, speed up approvals for renewable energy investments, and reduce CO2 emissions drastically. That means that the 81 million Germans living between the North Sea and the Alps are supposed to cover their huge energy needs from wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass…[B]y 2030 green electricity could be the dominant source of power for German factories and households…"

With this courageous act of leadership ("encouraged" by the greens), Merkel became a New Energy hero. (click to enlarge)

"…[O]pposition parties from the left decried it as a political stunt, an act of opportunism, and even panic…[but] Merkel's administration plans to shut down the nuclear reactors…a quarter of Germany's [baseload electricity]… by 2022…[and raise] the share of renewable energy [from its present 17 percent] to 35 percent of consumption in 2020, 50 percent in 2030, 65 percent in 2040, and more than 80 percent in 2050…[and cut] CO2 emissions (compared to 1990 levels) by… more than 80 percent in 2050.

"That makes Germany the world's most important [New Energy] laboratory…[and] the undisputed mecca for everyone on the planet concerned with the environment and green-tech business…Clearly, Angela Merkel has reacted to the Fukushima disaster completely differently from Barack Obama and other world leaders…[T]he key to the chancellor's radical turnaround lies deep in her past…[when she worked] as a researcher in quantum chemistry, examining the probability of events in the subatomic domain…[S]he has a very good sense of how likely events are, not only in physics but also in politics…[Fukushima] made the chancellor realize that she had been terribly wrong about the probability of a nuclear catastrophe…[and] she felt compelled to act…"

Merkel recently participated in the inauguration of Baltic 1 off Germany's North Sea coast, the world's first deepwater offshore wind project and one of Germany's first big steps toward its New Energy future. (click to enlarge)

"The new course is a huge challenge in terms of cost and feasibility…Germany is in a good starting position, though…[T]he share of renewable electricity in Germany has jumped from 5 percent in the 1990s to 17 percent today…Merkel's big hope…is offshore wind energy…[and her] big bet is that environmental technology will be one of Germany's most important sources of income. Already, the country's share in the green-tech world market is 16 percent, which means billions of Euros in business…[and] 300,000 `green collar' new jobs in the past decade…[but] the transition will be costly and carry economic risks…

"…[I]nvestment needs in the hundreds of billions of Euros…will surely test Germans' willingness to support Merkel's plan…[But costs will be offset because] instead of sending billions of Euros to Russia and other sources of imported energy, Germany will now be able [spend on domestic energy and jobs]…[A] complete overhaul of the energy infrastructure is necessary…[M]ore than 4,000 kilometers of new ‘eco-electricity highways’ are necessary…[and] supplying an industrial nation with renewable energy also raises environmental concerns [about siting and toxic materials]…Despite the many problems and pitfalls, the chancellor's new course is already attracting admiration from abroad…The Japanese are certainly watching…"