Germany’s key to green energy

[Cronopio]

Despite its damp climate, the country has become the global leader in wind and solar power through a pioneering law. Now, Congress is weighing a similar bill.

While other nations hunt for ways to wean themselves from fossil fuels, Germany is in the throes of a green revolution that has made it the global leader in solar- and wind-power generation.

The reason? A pioneering law that requires utilities to buy electricity from renewable sources at premium rates. This means anyone with a rooftop solar generator or a small water turbine can sell the energy they produce at a healthy profit.

“It puts power in the hands of the people,” says Stefan Schurig, energy director for the World Future Council, which promotes sustainability.
Following Germany’s lead, more than three dozen nations, from Spain to Indonesia, have adopted some variation of the policy, known as a feed-in tariff. In the US, six states and Congress are weighing similar bills. “We’ve had two great exports from Germany: sauerkraut and the feed-in tariff,” says Jay Inslee (D) of Washington, one of the federal bill’s sponsors. “Germany has pole-vaulted over other countries when it comes to clean-energy technology, and that’s gotten people’s attention.”

The goal behind feed-in tariffs is to foster a growing network of small and medium-size energy producers. In Germany, at least a dozen communities now produce much or all of their own energy, using everything from ultrathin photovoltaic panels to cow manure. A few have gone even further. Residents of Dardesheim, a hamlet in the hardscrabble east, now own enough windmills to power 10,000-plus homes ...

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/08/20/germany%E2%80%99s-key-to-green-energy/

[Miss Chybil]

1. K & R nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Other countries are so far ahead of us in energy conservation that it's ridiculous

As a translator, I've been translating Japanese corporate reports for years. Some of the material is "greenwashing," but some is really impressive, such as the company whose material I'm currently translating. They have reduced their waste stream to less than 1% of raw materials brought in and have reduced their CO2 emissions by 56% since 1990. They are also redesigning their products for low power consumption and giving preference to suppliers who follow environmentally friendly practices.

What are we doing? Letting the blowhards in the MSM get away with saying that everything will be just dandy if Big Oil is allowed to drill anywhere it wants. Fighting a war for oil that uses up an immense amount of oil and takes away money that could be used to research alternatives to oil and build an alternative infrastructure, including high-speed rail, mass transit, and other things that could replace many car and plane trips.

[pamban23]

3. Germany's key togreen energy

Thank you for this informative article. I hope the idea of feed in tariffs gets wide exposure. The time may be ripe for the idea of micro energy production. Would love to know if there are pilot projects that the average person could see in different areas of the US.
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Pamban23

http://www.drugtreatments.com/south-dakota

[old mark]

6. I think several of the states are well ahead of the feds on this.

Pennsylvania seems to be doing pretty well, for the US at any rate.

If only we could harness the hot air and steaming bullshit produced by Congress, we's have more energy than we could ever use.

Welcome, pamban23.

mark

[NickB79]

4. If only we could produce power from greenwashing as well

Germany would be an energy powerhouse!

For example: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,472786,00.html

"Everyone in Germany is talking about climate protection -- everyone, that is, except for energy companies. They're planning to build dozens of new coal-fired power plants -- with the support of the governing coalition in Berlin."

snip

"The company wants to build a new coal-fired power plant there by 2012. The plan is for the new plant to burn up two million tons of Polish coal a year and provide a solid 800 megawatt electricity output, in addition to 600 megawatts of heat.

That's nice for Vattenfall, but less so for the climate. The power plant will also churn out a good five million tons of CO2 every year, according to preliminary estimates -- and it will do so right under the nose of Angela Merkel."

Note that this ONE plant will eat 2 MILLION tons of coal per year. And the article claims Germany has 26 of these monsters on the drawing board.

I don't want to bash Germany for what they've accomplished so far with wind and solar because it is remarkable, but if they actually do build these coal-fired abominations, all their wind and solar incentives won't put a dent in their CO2 emissions.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

5. Germany also has pay by weight

garbage collection. Product packaging has been reduced to the bare minimum because the consumers won't by products that have a lot of packaging that needs to be thrown away. The consumer has the right, if there is too much packaging, to leave that packaging at the store they purchased it from. So not only is the consumer demanding less packaging, the stores are as well. "Reduce, reuse and recycle" is a way of life there.