Germany’s decision is very good news but for an unusual reason....
Today's post: Wednesday, 6-8-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects. And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Germany’s decision is very good news but for an unusual reason....
A bit before I normally would have done this post last week, Germany announced that it will close its nuclear reactors and cancel plans to build more. They also plan to double their sources of renewable energy from 17% to 34%.
Because they experienced being downwind from Chernobyl, they already have done one of the world’s best jobs in adding renewable energy in general and photovoltaic solar in particular. Despite getting less sunlight than California they recently have been installing NINE times as much solar as California has!
In practice, since I think they were getting something like 25% of their electricity from nuclear power, that may mean buying electricity from France where 80% of it comes from nuclear power.
But here’s the really good news.
To keep our economies strong and continue having our earth support people with an OK quality of life, we must dramatically add more renewable sources for electricity and transport. AND we must sharply improve the energy efficiency in every way we use it.
Because of this decision, Germany will move even more to pioneering ways to add more renewable energy and to improve energy efficiency in every way we use it.
That will cause Germany to become perhaps the world’s best, first customer for improved generation of renewable energy and technologies that save energy.
To some extent that was already true for photovoltaic solar. Now it will be even more true for technologies that make renewable energy more usable and for every kind of technology that saves energy in any and every part of their economy.
That may wind up acting as a catalyst for the rest of the world to make better energy technology available. Old and new companies now have and will come to have even more of a ready market for products or services using such technologies.
By selling first to their best local markets AND Germany, it will make it economically more doable to develop and market clean energy technologies and products.
I think that will turn out to be very, very good news indeed.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
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