In 2023 the share of coal decreased to 26.1 % of all electricity – which is close to other nations like the US with 20 % coal. In fact, per kWh germany produces on average 380 g of CO2, while the US produces 389 g, which is half of Poland’s 690 g CO2 per kWh.
I know its a meme at this point to shit on the german electricity market, but the sucess in the last 5 years is something other countries should admire, especially countries like Poland who claim to heavily invest in nuclear power, while they are in fact do nothing at all – and except for maybe France. They are 2nd to none in terms of CO2 emissions, even though they pay a hefty price for that.
Germany retired a bunch of Nuclear reactors early that forced them to be dependent on Russian natural gas again. No countries should admire a luddite move of that magnitude, especially when one of their original green party advocates was found to be getting a lot of money from Russian oligarchs.
They didn’t retire them early, but decided not to upgrade them. They where 40 years old and needed massive maintenance now.
Germany was highly dependent on russian gas with nuclear as well – even more, if you consider that Germany got its Uranium from Russia, too. Also Gas and Nuclear Energy fulfill a completly different function. Nuclear is not really flexible, so its a baseload source. Gas is highly flexible, which is the reason its a peak load source. Nuclear competes with renewables and a bit with coal, but not with gas.
No idea where you got this Fakenews, but no politican of the german greens was involved in any scandal with Russia – in fact its the opposite: they have been the most vocal anti-Russia party for years now and warned about dependence on Russia for the last decade already.
The US has routinely upgraded aging reactors - the condition of the facilities is a major factor but in most cases it costs a fraction of the cost vs. building one new. Powerplants are generally expensive and nuclear plants especially - these plants had a lot of life left in them. Think of scheduled retirement dates as a “best before” date on food - you should keep them in mind and double check food beyond the date but food is generally still good.
There are some incredibly valid renewables for surge demand - hydroelectric chief among these… in the US there are actually a few lakes that pump water into the reservoir during off hours and run their turbines during peak - having some surge power as lng/coal is wise but increasing baseload is always a good idea - especially if you implement demand based pricing so things like data centers can overcool and electric cars can charge during off hours.
Regarding #3 it isn’t fake news - one of the original advocates for denuclearization was Gerhard Schröder who has received very large sums of money from Russian companies. He, himself, was not a Greens member but did push for a lot of the original nuclear sunsetting. He’s since received millions of euros a year from Russian companies and been offered board positions on gazprom.
So its fake news because he isnt a member of the green party – and actually never was an advocate of the end of nuclear energy. He was vocal about increasing the run time of nuclear reactors in the public, actually. Also, all german parties – except for the far right – were part of the process and at one point or another confirmed it. There is just no majority in Germany for nuclear power. One of the reasons is the high price (see France, which needs to subsidize their energy prices with billions each year to stay competitive), but also the problem with nuclear waste, which no one wants. Its not like in the US, where we have lot of empty space where no one is bothered.
Still, the public debate is intense, even though nuclear power was only at 5–10 %. Meanwhile in the last year alone renewables producing 4 % of the energy demand were built. And each year lost by debating, more fossil fuels are burned.
Germany has drastically reduced their coal share, too. Just look at this Chart: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/384/bilder/3_abb_bruttostromerzeugung-et_2023-11-24.png
In 2023 the share of coal decreased to 26.1 % of all electricity – which is close to other nations like the US with 20 % coal. In fact, per kWh germany produces on average 380 g of CO2, while the US produces 389 g, which is half of Poland’s 690 g CO2 per kWh.
I know its a meme at this point to shit on the german electricity market, but the sucess in the last 5 years is something other countries should admire, especially countries like Poland who claim to heavily invest in nuclear power, while they are in fact do nothing at all – and except for maybe France. They are 2nd to none in terms of CO2 emissions, even though they pay a hefty price for that.
Germany retired a bunch of Nuclear reactors early that forced them to be dependent on Russian natural gas again. No countries should admire a luddite move of that magnitude, especially when one of their original green party advocates was found to be getting a lot of money from Russian oligarchs.
Thats straight up wrong.
They didn’t retire them early, but decided not to upgrade them. They where 40 years old and needed massive maintenance now.
Germany was highly dependent on russian gas with nuclear as well – even more, if you consider that Germany got its Uranium from Russia, too. Also Gas and Nuclear Energy fulfill a completly different function. Nuclear is not really flexible, so its a baseload source. Gas is highly flexible, which is the reason its a peak load source. Nuclear competes with renewables and a bit with coal, but not with gas.
No idea where you got this Fakenews, but no politican of the german greens was involved in any scandal with Russia – in fact its the opposite: they have been the most vocal anti-Russia party for years now and warned about dependence on Russia for the last decade already.
The US has routinely upgraded aging reactors - the condition of the facilities is a major factor but in most cases it costs a fraction of the cost vs. building one new. Powerplants are generally expensive and nuclear plants especially - these plants had a lot of life left in them. Think of scheduled retirement dates as a “best before” date on food - you should keep them in mind and double check food beyond the date but food is generally still good.
There are some incredibly valid renewables for surge demand - hydroelectric chief among these… in the US there are actually a few lakes that pump water into the reservoir during off hours and run their turbines during peak - having some surge power as lng/coal is wise but increasing baseload is always a good idea - especially if you implement demand based pricing so things like data centers can overcool and electric cars can charge during off hours.
Regarding #3 it isn’t fake news - one of the original advocates for denuclearization was Gerhard Schröder who has received very large sums of money from Russian companies. He, himself, was not a Greens member but did push for a lot of the original nuclear sunsetting. He’s since received millions of euros a year from Russian companies and been offered board positions on gazprom.
So its fake news because he isnt a member of the green party – and actually never was an advocate of the end of nuclear energy. He was vocal about increasing the run time of nuclear reactors in the public, actually. Also, all german parties – except for the far right – were part of the process and at one point or another confirmed it. There is just no majority in Germany for nuclear power. One of the reasons is the high price (see France, which needs to subsidize their energy prices with billions each year to stay competitive), but also the problem with nuclear waste, which no one wants. Its not like in the US, where we have lot of empty space where no one is bothered.
Still, the public debate is intense, even though nuclear power was only at 5–10 %. Meanwhile in the last year alone renewables producing 4 % of the energy demand were built. And each year lost by debating, more fossil fuels are burned.
Don’t talk about Germany! If you mention the environmental benefits of nuclear power around a german they’ll screech you into the ground.
That’s not limited to Germany.