Sooty, "renewable" Germany gets booted from Top Ten Sustainability Index

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A coal plant in Bergheim, Germany

"The most sustainable national power systems in the world combine nuclear with hydro for mass low-carbon generation, a World Energy Council study shows.

WEC's Energy Sustainability index compared 90 countries in terms of the so-called trilemma that every government faces in setting its energy policy: balancing the needs for energy supply to be reliable, socially equitable and environmentally acceptable."

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"Self-declared environmental leader Germany just missed out on a place in WEC's top ten dropping one place to 11th and facing criticism for 'weak' environmental performance due to high carbon intensity, particularly in its electricity sector. In 2009 it called nuclear energy a 'bridge technology' that could to bide time for other low-carbon sources to mature, encouraging utilities to invest in upgrades to older plants. This policy was abruptly reversed in 2011 when eight older reactors were shut overnight to satisfy public opinion after the Fukushima accident. The impact on German utilites has been huge, counting thousands of job losses, a multi-billion euro lawsuit against the government and their withdrawal from overseas nuclear investment due to the impact on their balance sheets."

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/EE_Nuclear_and_hydro_the_core_of_sustainability_0512121.html