{"id":341570,"date":"2024-09-05T08:20:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T06:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=341570"},"modified":"2024-09-05T08:20:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T06:20:40","slug":"renewable-fiasco-if-germany-just-kept-nuclear-power-it-could-have-saved-600b-and-cut-emissions-by-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=341570","title":{"rendered":"Renewable Fiasco: If Germany just kept nuclear power, it could have saved $600b and cut emissions by 73%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Windr\u008ader Uckermark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JoNova <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jo Nova<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Phillippsburg Nuclear Power Plant by\u00a0Lothar Neumann, Gernsbach<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Germans just did nothing at all, it would have been Greener<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Germany already had nuclear power in 2002, if they just kept it and didn\u2019t build all the wind and solar plants, they wouldn\u2019t have had to spend 697 Billion Euro on subsidies, and would have cut their emissions by 73% more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ever there is a statistic that says there is something rotten in the State of Climate Panic, this is surely it. I mean, does CO2 matter or doesn\u2019t it? Do the Greens care at all, or even a bit? If there was a climate emergency and The Greens were worried about CO2, they might have protested that the EnergieWende was a reckless experiment. But if the Greens were tools for communists, foreign states or banker-investors, then they might keep choosing options that benefit other countries, help Bankers or just make Big Government bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either the German Greens have utterly failed at the very task they set out to do, or they were really aiming at something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross Pomery writes at RealClearScience<\/a> and  WattsUpWithThat<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study Quantifies Germany\u2019s Disastrous Switch Away From Nuclear Power<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

At the dawn of the millennium, Germany launched an ambitious plan to transition to renewable energy. \u201cDie Energiewende\u201d initiated a massive expansion of solar and wind power, resulting in a commendable 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2022\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2002, nuclear power supplied about a fifth of Germany\u2019s electricity. Twenty-one years later, it supplied none. A layperson might think that cheap wind and solar could simply fill the gap, but it isn\u2019t so simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan Emblemsv\u00e5g<\/a>, a Professor of Civil Engineering at Norway\u2019s NTNU just published a study comparing the ambitious German Energiewende renewable program with nuclear power:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwhat if Germany had spent their money on nuclear power and not followed their policy from 2002 through 2022 (20 years); would Germany have achieved more emission reductions and lower expenses?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even German bureaucrats admit Energiewende \u201cposes a threat to the German economy\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German Federal Accounting Office (Bundesrechnungshof) writes about the German policy dubbed \u2018Die Energiewende\u2019 in German, and it concludes: \u2018The Bundesrechnungshof warns that the energy transition in its current form poses a threat to the German economy<\/strong> and overburdens the financial capacity of electricity-consuming companies and households\u2019 (Bundesrechnungshof Citation2021a<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A whole lot of wind (green) and solar (orange) power were added to the German grid and it was worse than useless:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Given these results, there can be no doubt whatsoever that if Germany had invested in NPPs [Nuclear Power Plants] instead of VREs [Variable Renewable Energy], Germany would have decarbonised more with far less nominal expenditures. The short conclusion is that Germany would have reached its climate goals with a substantial margin at half the expenditures of Energiewende.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Germans have done this experiment so we don\u2019t have to<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Just burn that money in a pyre to the Weather Gods:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/14786451.2024.2355642#d1e128<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These costs do not include the added burden of expensive electricity on businesses and homes, the opportunity costs of money that could have been spent elsewhere, or the loss of talent, brains and industry to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building new nuclear plants was still cheaper than wind and solar<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The paper goes through another scenario where more nuclear plants were built with careful estimations of the costs and long times to construct plants and still concludes that the Germans would have saved $330 billion euro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/14786451.2024.2355642#d1e128<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not coincidentally, in 2024 Germany has some of the most expensive electricity in Europe, business confidence is low<\/a>, and  VW have just announced that after 87 years in production, they might have to close their <\/a>German factories<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen, which was founded in 1937, said on Monday that it could no longer rule out unprecedented plant closures in Germany as it seeks ways to save several billion euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief executive Oliver Blume said: \u201cThe economic environment has become even tougher and new players are pushing into Europe. Germany as a business location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen employs around 650,000 workers globally, almost 300,000 of whom are in Germany, and the threat of factory closures sparked an immediate fierce backlash \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REFERENCE<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Emblemsv\u00e5g, J. (2024). What if Germany had invested in nuclear power? A comparison between the German energy policy the last 20 years and an alternative policy of investing in nuclear power. International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 43(1). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14786451.2024.2355642<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany already had nuclear power in 2002, if they just kept it and didn\u2019t build all the wind and solar plants, they wouldn\u2019t have had to spend 697 Billion Euro on subsidies, and would have cut their emissions by 73% more.<\/p>\n

If ever there is a statistic that says there is something rotten in the State of Climate Panic, this is surely it. I mean, does CO2 matter or doesn\u2019t it? Do the Greens care at all, or even a bit? If there was a climate emergency and The Greens were worried about CO2, they might have protested that the EnergieWende was a reckless experiment. But if the Greens were tools for communists, foreign states or banker-investors, then they might keep choosing options that benefit other countries, help Bankers or just make Big Government bigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":341578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691827130,691821069,691830469,691818051,691818206,691819094],"class_list":{"0":"post-341570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co2","9":"tag-german-energiewende","10":"tag-german-federal-accounting-office-bundesrechnungshof","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-nuclear-power","13":"tag-renewable-green-energy","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/08b3c6c99-0001-0004-0000-000000234996_w1280_r1.77_fpx30.12_fpy54.98.jpg?fit=1280%2C723&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1qRc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":341122,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=341122","url_meta":{"origin":341570,"position":0},"title":"Study Quantifies Germany\u2019s Disastrous Switch Away From Nuclear Power","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"At the dawn of the millennium, Germany launched an ambitious plan to transition to renewable energy. \u201cDie Energiewende\u201d initiated a massive expansion of solar and wind power, resulting in a commendable 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2022 compared to 2002.\u00a0\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In \"Die Energiewende\"","block_context":{"text":"Die Energiewende","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=die-energiewende"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0photo-of-a-village-with-windmills-in-the-background.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0photo-of-a-village-with-windmills-in-the-background.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0photo-of-a-village-with-windmills-in-the-background.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0photo-of-a-village-with-windmills-in-the-background.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0photo-of-a-village-with-windmills-in-the-background.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":355114,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=355114","url_meta":{"origin":341570,"position":1},"title":"Will Germany Destroy Europe for the Third Time in a Century?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The German is serious. He\u2019s so serious that even when he\u2019s heading down a blind alley, and he knows it, he\u2019ll seriously go all the way, seriously wallow in the wall, smashing all those around him into it if necessary. With gravitas, and because it\u2019s his duty.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate cult\"","block_context":{"text":"climate cult","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-cult"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0germanyEurope.png?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0germanyEurope.png?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0germanyEurope.png?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0germanyEurope.png?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0germanyEurope.png?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":251216,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=251216","url_meta":{"origin":341570,"position":2},"title":"The contradictory Green policies to limit CO2\u00a0emissions","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"An excellent way to undermine Western economies is to render their power generation unreliable and expensive.\u00a0 That objective of Green thinking is progressively being achieved by Government policy throughout the Western world but without any popular voter mandate.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00Net-Zero-Carbon-Emissions-2050-1536x896-1.webp?fit=1200%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00Net-Zero-Carbon-Emissions-2050-1536x896-1.webp?fit=1200%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00Net-Zero-Carbon-Emissions-2050-1536x896-1.webp?fit=1200%2C700&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00Net-Zero-Carbon-Emissions-2050-1536x896-1.webp?fit=1200%2C700&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00Net-Zero-Carbon-Emissions-2050-1536x896-1.webp?fit=1200%2C700&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":359781,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=359781","url_meta":{"origin":341570,"position":3},"title":"Taillight","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"December 2024 is something like the Stalingrad of the German energy transition. 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