May 9, 2023 - 10:00am
Germany is continuing to make senseless energy decisions. Recently the country’s Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety, Steffi Lemke, published an op-ed with the prestigious outlet Project Syndicate in which she praised the end of German nuclear power as an “excellent – indeed, visionary – move”.
She argues that supposed problems with energy supply are exaggerated, and that the renewed push for renewables will quickly lead to clean and cheap electricity for industries and households. We do not know if her fellow Green party member and Minister for the Economy, Robert Habeck, has read Lemke’s article, but he doesn’t seem to share her optimism. According to a recent proposal from his ministry, German industries face an existential threat due to high electricity prices — caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It is also true, however, that Germany lost 25% of its 2011 electricity production due to the shutdown of 17 nuclear reactors, including the Isar-2 plant which was the world’s most productive nuclear power plant until its closure this April. This decline in production was compensated by natural gas from Russia, and it is no secret that Nord Stream 2 was also planned as a means to keep energy flowing once all reactors went offline. Putin’s invasion and the sabotage of Nord Stream should have altered that equation, but thanks to the Green commitment to ending nuclear power in Germany, it has become so ingrained in the party’s identity that a course correction became impossible.
Alas, German industry cannot run on ideology, and while Habeck is unwilling to admit the causes of the unfolding economic crisis, at least he is no longer denying its existence. His proposal for a solution is a massive subsidies programme in which the Government would guarantee a fixed price per MW/h until 2030. While this proposal alone would cost €25 to 30 billion, it is unclear if it could end in seven years. This assumption is based on the expansion of renewables, particularly wind and solar, but it does not take into account the planned transition to electrified heating and transportation that will continue to push electricity prices up.
There is also the question of transportation: it is unlikely that the German grid in its current condition could simultaneously handle all the pursued plans of electrification. One German real estate company has already been told that they cannot connect the heat pumps in their buildings, because it would overload the grid.
That the German industry is starting to feel the lack of energy can no longer be denied: growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 came in at a negative 0.5% (after several revisions), and it is likely that the current stagnation (0.0% in the first quarter of 2023) will not survive the first round of revisions. Factory orders for March contracted by 10.7% — the expected value was 2.2%, demonstrating that German analysts might be overestimating the resilience of national industry. Industrial production has also plunged by 3.4% month on month — more than twice the expected 1.5%.
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SubscribeMadness , how the Green Party (17% at the last election) as a junior coalition party is able to deindustrialise Germany. It isn’t about so-called man made Climate Change anymore, but shrinking (destroy) Germany’s Industry as coal plants are now replacing nuclear power and natural gas. The coalition partners so far seem to be unwilling to stop this nonsense. On top of only EV production by 2030, expensive heat pumps are already required by 2024 to replace old gas boilers in private homes. Many landlords and house owners won’t be able to afford the required renovations. Many companies are fleeing Germany and settling either in the US or Eastern Europe (mainly Poland). I wonder when the German population will finally show some resistance. Guess only once the AfD makes huge gains at the next major elections…
The US is only slightly farther behind. New York state just banned gas stoves for all new construction starting in 3 years.
….but a federal court just ruled that CA cannot enforce a ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings…
….but a federal court just ruled that CA cannot enforce a ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings…
“ I wonder when the German population will finally show some resistance”
When they start feeling the pain. All German politicians need is a calculator and a high school knowledge of physics. Switching to 100% wind and solar will require eliminating agriculture in Germany and completely destroying its landscape (solar panels and wind turbines have to go somewhere and Germany will need a lot of them). Even the greenest Germans will not go for that.
The US is only slightly farther behind. New York state just banned gas stoves for all new construction starting in 3 years.
“ I wonder when the German population will finally show some resistance”
When they start feeling the pain. All German politicians need is a calculator and a high school knowledge of physics. Switching to 100% wind and solar will require eliminating agriculture in Germany and completely destroying its landscape (solar panels and wind turbines have to go somewhere and Germany will need a lot of them). Even the greenest Germans will not go for that.
Madness , how the Green Party (17% at the last election) as a junior coalition party is able to deindustrialise Germany. It isn’t about so-called man made Climate Change anymore, but shrinking (destroy) Germany’s Industry as coal plants are now replacing nuclear power and natural gas. The coalition partners so far seem to be unwilling to stop this nonsense. On top of only EV production by 2030, expensive heat pumps are already required by 2024 to replace old gas boilers in private homes. Many landlords and house owners won’t be able to afford the required renovations. Many companies are fleeing Germany and settling either in the US or Eastern Europe (mainly Poland). I wonder when the German population will finally show some resistance. Guess only once the AfD makes huge gains at the next major elections…
Feels the pinch? Germany is moving to suicide watch. The Hamburg mittelstand is beyond angry, they are starting to fold. Whither goes the mittelstands goes Germany.
The Mortgenthau plan in slow motion, the Neocons must be loving it
The Mortgenthau plan in slow motion, the Neocons must be loving it
Feels the pinch? Germany is moving to suicide watch. The Hamburg mittelstand is beyond angry, they are starting to fold. Whither goes the mittelstands goes Germany.
And all the while Angela Markel is celebrated as the best chancellor ever.
what a tragic joke. She was warned by the US then and just laughed them in their face. Who’s laughing now ?
She is collecting her 200 000 eur as ex chancellor, enjoying the perks of office, assistants and bodyguards while the plebe is wondering how to foot its electricity bill.
Her immigration policies were even worse than her energy policies. And I doubt she would feel welcome to spend her retirement on a beach in Greece. A catastrophe.
Her immigration policies were even worse than her energy policies. And I doubt she would feel welcome to spend her retirement on a beach in Greece. A catastrophe.
And all the while Angela Markel is celebrated as the best chancellor ever.
what a tragic joke. She was warned by the US then and just laughed them in their face. Who’s laughing now ?
She is collecting her 200 000 eur as ex chancellor, enjoying the perks of office, assistants and bodyguards while the plebe is wondering how to foot its electricity bill.
Just watch German industrial output vapourise if non electric cars become illegal?
What is so good about electric cars if cannot charge them?
China is taking over the market in Europe for electric car production – the Germans are going to have to promote other businesses- pickle-making, cuckoo clocks, etc.
What is so good about electric cars if cannot charge them?
China is taking over the market in Europe for electric car production – the Germans are going to have to promote other businesses- pickle-making, cuckoo clocks, etc.
Just watch German industrial output vapourise if non electric cars become illegal?
Agree this is all so much lunacy. One watches on in horror and wonders how much “reality” is required to stop this nonsense.
Agree this is all so much lunacy. One watches on in horror and wonders how much “reality” is required to stop this nonsense.
Then it had better learn. It’s the only form of energy in unlimited supply.
Then it had better learn. It’s the only form of energy in unlimited supply.
An electoral system that draws 75% Bundestag membership from ideological conformist lists prepared by contesting political parties will surely deliver ideological skewed decisions: to the detriment of long suffering Germans.
An electoral system that draws 75% Bundestag membership from ideological conformist lists prepared by contesting political parties will surely deliver ideological skewed decisions: to the detriment of long suffering Germans.
It’s unbelievable what is being willed across the West.
If Germany keeps stagnating the EU is doomed because once they feel a real pinch there will be no chance of them continuing to act as lender of last resort in exchange for increasingly worthless assets.
It is bad enough here but it’s even worse in the EU these days.
It’s unbelievable what is being willed across the West.
If Germany keeps stagnating the EU is doomed because once they feel a real pinch there will be no chance of them continuing to act as lender of last resort in exchange for increasingly worthless assets.
It is bad enough here but it’s even worse in the EU these days.
Ban commuting.
Ban commuting.