Germany is importing massive amounts of nuclear-generated electricity from France following its decision to abandon atomic power in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.
But it is still bracing for blackouts of the kind not seen since the Second World War as eight of the 17 reactors were switched off overnight in a populist move that is now seen as a rash decision.
Nuclear plants generated nearly a quarter of Germany's electricity. But after the tsunami and earthquake that sent radiation spewing from Fukushima in March, the government disconnected the eight oldest of Germany's 17 reactors.
Well, thats a surprise! Despite what the greens here say, the prospect of renewables making a serious impact on our energy supply are a good few decades away and the initial costs are gigantic.
And this is without the future of contracting global supplies of oil!
Peace always has been and always will be an intermittent flash of light in a dark history of warfare, violence, and destruction
I am prepared to power down massively, and I already have. SWMBO and I use 1.25 Kw/h per day each (= 3.5 total). That is a 73% reduction.
I know renewables can't match FFs and nuclear, but if we can power down at a national level and install renewables at a massive scale, who knows? I'm no expert, but we may have no other options down the road...
Same here; our usage is still higher than I'd like but it's way lower than the average.
Part of the problem is that electricity, like motor fuel, is seriously under-priced.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
Yeah, the juice we do buy is around about 70% wind-generated.
The German situation sounds a bit silly, really. There again, people are.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
I have a feeling that Germany will only buy in electricity for an interim period, while they sort something else out, and they have a good record of renewables.
Jon
biffvernon wrote:Nothing silly about realising that nuclear power stations are a really dumb idea. The silly part was not realising it sooner.
Yes, I meant they're doing the right thing, but in a silly way. Not German at all, on the face of it.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
Long-term renewables are the way forward (although I suspect that space based solar power is a better prospect) but in the short-term it would make much better sense for Germany to maintain its current fleet of power stations, build up its renewable base rather than import nuclear electricity from neighbouring states.
Risking power cuts in our current economic situation is pure madness. A gradual powerdown is sensible, a sudden shutting down plain stupid.
Peace always has been and always will be an intermittent flash of light in a dark history of warfare, violence, and destruction
biffvernon wrote:Nothing silly about realising that nuclear power stations are a really dumb idea. The silly part was not realising it sooner.
Yes, I meant they're doing the right thing, but in a silly way. Not German at all, on the face of it.
I'm not sure I agree with that. In effect, what they are doing is absolutely ensuring the problems gets sorted, and quickly as possible.
I hope so. As I said, on the face of it. Shutting down nuclear, then importing nuclear, is a bit odd - do you know where their well-thought-out, long-term plan is? Why is it less publicised than Telegraph readers' views?
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
biffvernon wrote:Nothing silly about realising that nuclear power stations are a really dumb idea. The silly part was not realising it sooner.
Yes, I meant they're doing the right thing, but in a silly way. Not German at all, on the face of it.
I'm not sure I agree with that. In effect, what they are doing is absolutely ensuring the problems gets sorted, and quickly as possible.
Unlike successive craven British governments, the German Government is being relatively open with its population about energy constraints. It has laid it on the line that the alternative to wind farms everywhere is either nuclear power or blackouts. Can you imagine the British Government being so candid?
Unlike the British, the Germans are in the habit of acknowledging a problem at the outset and working out what to do about it as a nation, not just as a heap of individuals with competing interests. I was in Germany last week and it's a bloody breath of fresh air. Of course they have problems and the country isn't perfect but they have the guts to face problems head-on.
I don't know what lies behind the German winding-down of nuclear - do they know something we don't about the possibility of covert attacks on nuclear plants once WW3 gets under way, by unconventional methods like EM and seismic weapons? Are they counting on getting their energy from Russia? Just speculating.
"We're just waiting, looking skyward as the days go down / Someone promised there'd be answers if we stayed around."
But the germans still have a lot of lignite to burn (and they do), and after talking with some, they were considering the energy debate in Germany as hypocritical (and elections oriented) as anywhere else ...
