Pirate's Cove

Germany is already slated to do away with all nuclear power by 2022, which accounted for around 11% of its power needs. Now we get coal, accounting for around 40% of Germany’s energy

Germany is first major economy to phase out coal and nuclear

German lawmakers have finalized the country’s long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough and free marketeers criticize as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Bills approved by both houses of parliament Friday envision shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by 2038 and spending some 40 billion euros ($45 billion) to help affected regions cope with the transition.

The plan is part of Germany’s ‘energy transition’ – an effort to wean Europe’s biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country’s considerable energy needs from renewable sources. Achieving that goal is made harder than in comparable countries such as France and Britain because of Germany’s existing commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022.

“The days of coal are numbered in Germany,” Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said. “Germany is the first industrialized country that leaves behind both nuclear energy and coal.”

Of course, they’re kinda forgetting to mention exactly what they will replace 51% of their energy budget with. Will they allow more natural gas? Germans have been switching to it over the years, and big portion comes from Russia. Virtually all comes from Russia, the UK, and Norway. They are also importing a lot of wood, in the form of wood pellets. Why? Solar and wind are unreliable, and it is not a good place for geothermal nor hydrothermal. And ecowackos won’t allow dams to be built.

“Germany, the country that burns the greatest amount of lignite coal worldwide, will burden the next generation with 18 more years of carbon dioxide,” Greenpeace Germany’s executive director Martin Kaiser told The Associated Press.

Exactly. If this is so darned important, why wait till 2038? Do it now. We’re told that solar and wind is ready for prime time. I’m no fan of coal, but, how will they replace 40% of their energy?